San Francisco – Twitter said that this year’s Super Bowl
generated the most traffic of any sporting event ever on the service, spiking
at 4,064 tweets per second (TPS). The previous record was 3,283 TPS, set during
last year’s World Cup, while the all-time high of 6,939 TPS was set on New
Year’s Eve in Japan.
Related Links:
http://blog.twitter.com/2011/02/superbowl.html
New York – RightsFlow, a provider of music licensing and
royalty services, said on Thursday that it has signed a deal with Google’s (NASD: GOOG)
YouTube, to assist with music rights management. The deal allows YouTube to tap
RightsFlow for processing and management of music rights. "We are pleased
to be working with the premier online video community to expedite rights
administration and drive royalty revenues for publishers and songwriters,"
said president and CEO Patrick Sullivan.
Related Links:
http://www.rightsflow.com
Los Angeles – Google (NASD: GOOG) has leased the iconic "Binoculars
Building," designed by Frank Gehry in 1991 in Venice, California, as part
of an acquisition of 100,000 square feet of office space intended to house some
of the 6,000 new employees the company plans to hire this year. "The
well-known landmark, with two wings connected by a four-story pair of
binoculars sculpted by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, will serve as
the outward face of the new Google campus."
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4mun5um
San Francisco – Twitter has held "low-level" acquisition
talks with executives at both Facebook and Google (NASD: GOOG) in recent months, The Wall
Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The recent talks have reportedly gone nowhere, but have taken place before
between Twitter and both firms, who one source described as having "latent
interest" in buying the microblogging service.
Talks with some Twitter
suitors have led to estimated valuations of $8 billion to $10 billion for the
company, the sources said.
The company’s executives and board reportedly
believe Twitter can grow into a $100 billion company, people familiar with the
situation told The Journal.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4glancz
(WSJ)
Santa Monica, Calif. – Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI) has
killed its underperforming "Guitar Hero" music video game franchise,
cancelling a planned 2011 installment and shutting down Red Octane, the studio
responsible for it which the company acquired for $100 million five years ago. "Due
to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision
Publishing’s Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its
Guitar Hero game for 2011," the company said.
"Given the considerable
licensing and manufacturing costs associated with this genre, we simply cannot
make these games profitably based on current economics and demand," CEO Eric
Hirshberg said on an earnings call.
The company also said it will discontinue
development on another planned title, "True Crime: Hong Kong."
Related Links:
http://investor.activision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=548900
http://tinyurl.com/6zbo75y
(Joystiq)
http://tinyurl.com/5s2ujpr
(Billboard)
San Francisco – Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz has
invested over $80 million in Twitter through the purchase of shares in the
company on secondary markets, All Things D reported, and the firm confirmed.
The company notably does not receive the money, but rather the Twitter
employees and other shareholders who choose to unload their shares on secondary
markets.
Sources told All Things D the company has chosen not to invest
directly in Twitter because it also has backed social media firms such as
Facebook and Foursquare.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4zvygr7
(All Things D)
Washington – SoundExchange, the recording industry entity
set up to collect and distribute digital royalties, announced that it has named
long-time executive vice president and general counsel Michael Huppe as its new
president.
Huppe succeeds founding director John Simson, who announced his
departure in July after leading the non-profit, which has paid out more than
$600 million in royalties, since 2003.
"Mike’s proven leadership ability
and service to the organization cannot be overstated," reads a statement
from the SoundExchange board.
"Pair that outstanding record with his
innovative ideas about the evolving industry, and this was unquestionably the
right choice for SoundExchange’s future."
"We’ve grown from a
legislative experiment to a major player in the music industry, and that growth
has brought with it a host of new challenges. There are exciting opportunities
ahead, and I’m proud and honored to be at the helm for the next part of our
journey," said Huppe.
Related Links:
http://www.soundexchange.com
New York – Major record label Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) said its
first quarter digital revenues rose a modest 1.6% to $187 million, accounting
for 24% of its $789 million in total revenues — which were down 14% from the
same period a year ago.
“While industry pressures and a highly competitive
release schedule limited our results in the first quarter, we’re confident that
our disciplined A&R investments, successful revenue diversification and
innovative digital strategies will drive WMG’s long-term growth,” said CEO
Edgar Bronfman, Jr.
“The growth in digital revenue over the prior-year
quarter primarily reflected strength in global digital downloads and streaming,
partially offset by continued declines in domestic mobile revenue,” the
company said.
“We expect digital revenue to accelerate once again as new
business models are rolled out on a global basis and as device capabilities and
network technologies advance,” Bronfman added, during a call with
analysts, according to the transcript.
Recorded music division revenue was down
14% in the first quarter; the company cited payment collection timing for a
14.9% drop in music publishing revenues.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/6dzbwtr
http://tinyurl.com/6k7ptuj
(Billboard)
Espoo, Finland – Facing declining market share in the key
nascent smartphone sector, new Nokia (NYSE: NOK) CEO Stephen Elop is expected to announce a
number of radical changes on Friday, including, according to reports, perhaps
opting to use software from Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) or Google (NASD: GOOG), and moving its headquarters to
California.
CNET’s roundup of rumors included The Register’s reporting Nokia
sources as saying the company may move its headquarters from Espoo, Finland to
Silicon Valley.
Reuters reports Nokia will shelve its MeeGo operating system,
which could figure with The Wall Street Journal’s report that Nokia is
considering using software from rivals Microsoft (Windows Phone 7) or Google
(Android) to run its phones.
Nokia laid off 1,700 employees in 2009 and 1,800
in October 2010, followed by another 800 in Finland in December — when it delayed
launch of its E7 smartphone.
The Journal reported last month that the
AT&T-exclusive E7’s launch was canceled.
Related Links:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-20031177-266.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/07/nokia_elop_definnistration/
http://tinyurl.com/4mfzkoy
(The Register)
