archives

o Yahoo Acquires HotJobs for $436 Million
o Judge Rejects Motions to Dismiss Publishers' Suits Against MP3.com
o THQ Closes Acquisition of Game Developer Rainbow Studios
o Streaming Services Firm Streampipe Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
o FTC Approves New ISPs to Offer Services Over AOL Time Warner Lines
o SBC Buys Part of Softbank's Stake in Yahoo for $300 Million
o Briefly Noted: Qualcomm - U.S. 3G, AOL, Palm - e-book sales, Level 3 -
Sony, Yahoo media, Peer-to-peer, Live365
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o Yahoo Acquires HotJobs for $436 Million

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Yahoo has entered into an agreement to acquire online
job placement site HotJobs in a cash and stock transaction valued at $436
million. Yahoo's unsolicited bid was higher than that of TMP Worldwide,
which operates rival job site Monster.com and was also interested in
acquiring HotJobs. "Together, Yahoo and HotJobs will form a powerful new
force in the recruitment marketplace and be a valuable source for
employers, recruiters and job seekers worldwide," said Yahoo CEO Terry
Semel. "HotJobs bolsters our Listings offering by instantly positioning
Yahoo as the number two player in the online recruiting segment, which we
believe to be one of the fastest growing opportunities within online
classifieds." HotJobs paid a fee of $15 million plus $2 million in
expenses to terminate its merger agreement with TMP. Forrester Research
predicts that the online career ad and classified market will reach
between $2 billion and $4 billion by 2005.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/011227/270092_1.html
http://www.hotjobs.com
_____________________________________________

o Judge Rejects Motions to Dismiss Publishers' Suits Against MP3.com

Nashville, Tenn. -- U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff has denied
Vivendi Universal subsidiary MP3.com's motions to dismiss lawsuits brought
against it by 62 music publishers. MP3.com is charged with both
contributory and vicarious copyright infringement relating to its
My.MP3.com service, which let users stream their CDs from online lockers.
These two claims against MP3.com, as well as one other, will go forward to
trial in May.
http://www.copyright.net/mp3suit/
_____________________________________________

o THQ Closes Acquisition of Game Developer Rainbow Studios

Calabasas Hills, Calif. -- THQ, a developer and publisher of interactive
entertainment, announced on Wednesday that it has completed its
acquisition of game developer Rainbow Studios. Calabasas Hills-based THQ
issued 858,203 shares of its stock in exchange for control of the company,
in a transaction valued at around $40 million. Phoenix-based Rainbow
Studios is currently developing titles including Activision's "Matt
Hoffman Pro BMX 2" and Lucas Arts' "Star Wars: Racer Revenge," both for
Sony's PlayStation 2 console. "We look forward to leveraging [Rainbow
Studios'] expertise in creating original action and racing game content,
two of the biggest genres in console gaming," said Jeff Lapin, vice
chairman and COO, THQ.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020102/20042_1.html
http://www.rainbowstudios.com
http://www.thq.com
_____________________________________________

o Streaming Services Firm Streampipe Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Alexandria, Va. -- Streampipe, a provider of streaming media services, has
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company, which had a round
of layoffs last year, helps firms broadcast events over the Internet. In
2000, Virginia-based Streampipe raised millions of dollars in cash and
services from PSINet, ATC Teleports, and Young & Rubicam. In its
bankruptcy filing, the company said it had between 100 and 199 creditors.
http://www.streampipe.com
_____________________________________________

o FTC Approves New ISPs to Offer Services Over AOL Time Warner Lines

Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved
four new companies to provide Internet access over AOL Time Warner's cable
lines. The company is required to offer services from competitors on its
own lines as part of the government's approval of the merger between
America Online and Time Warner. Herndon, Virginia-based Inter.net was
approved to offer high-speed Internet services nationwide on Time Warner's
cable lines, while three other companies gained regional approval. New
York Connect will offer services in the New York City area, while Internet
Junction will offer services in Tampa Bay and other Florida areas, and
STIC.net will offer high-speed access in Austin, Houston and San Antonio,
Texas.
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2001/12/fyi0165.htm
_____________________________________________

o SBC Buys Part of Softbank's Stake in Yahoo for $300 Million

San Antonio, Texas -- SBC Communications, a U.S. provider of telephone and
Internet services, said that it has agreed to acquire a 3 percent stake in
Web portal Yahoo from Japanese investment bank Softbank for $300 million.
Softbank will remain Yahoo's single largest shareholder, maintaining a 16
percent stake in the company. Texas-based SBC and Yahoo recently announced
that they would launch a co-branded, premium DSL Internet and dial-up
service, scheduled to launch in mid-2002.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/011227/272133_1.html
http://www.sbc.com
http://www.softbank.com
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o Briefly Noted:

(San Diego) Wireless communications technology developer Qualcomm said on
Wednesday that North American retailers have begun to receive shipments of
3G cell phones based on its CDMA wireless technology. The phones will
offer subscribers Internet access bitrates of up to 153 kbps, as soon as
U.S. wireless carriers upgrade their networks to handle the increased
bandwidth. Both Verizon and Sprint PCS have said they plan to launch 3G
network upgrades this year. Manufacturers designing phones based on the
Qualcomm standard include Kyocera, Samsung, Sanyo and Sierra.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020102/20026_1.html

(Dulles, Va.) America Online announced that its worldwide subscriber base
has surpassed 33 million members. The company said that on average, AOL
members spend nearly 70 minutes online each day. AOL also said that its
members spent $33 billion online in 2001 -- up 67 percent from the
previous year -- driven by an $11 billion fourth quarter.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/220022088&ticker=aol

(Santa Clara, Calif.) Palm, a developer of wireless handheld devices, said
on Wednesday that its Palm Digital Media unit sold nearly 180,000 e-books
in 2001. This figure represented an increase of 40 percent from the
previous year, and a doubling of its revenue. The best-selling fiction
e-book on Palm's site during 2001 was Stephen King's "Dreamcatcher;" King
was responsible for four of the ten best-selling fiction e-books on the
site. Palm Digital Media's library currently consists of 3,500 titles.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020102/sfw006_1.html

(Broomfield, Colo.) Broadband services provider Level 3 announced on
Wednesday that Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment will use its services
for its Screenblast broadband consumer entertainment site. Screenblast's
features include an array of audio and video creation and editing
software, samples of media from Sony artists, and the ability to share
media created using the software with others online.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020102/law020_1.html
http://www.screenblast.com
http://www.level3.com

(Sunnyvale, Calif.) Yahoo Media senior vice president David Graves has
said that he will leave the company in February to spend more time with
family. Graves heads the company's content offerings, including its news,
finance, sports, health and weather divisions. Graves joins a growing
number of Yahoo executives to leave the company in recent months,
including former CEO Tim Koogle, CFO Gary Valenzuela and Karen Edwards,
former head of marketing. Sunnyvale-based Yahoo said it has begun seeking
a replacement for Graves.
http://www.yahoo.com

(San Francisco) CNET featured an article on Wednesday that explored how
companies are utilizing peer-to-peer technology for purposes other than to
offer music file-sharing software. The article mentions the peer-to-peer
development efforts at big firms like Intel, Microsoft and Sun
Microsystems, as well as those at start-ups including Groove Networks,
NextPage, Kontiki and Red Swoosh.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-8307339.html?tag=cd_mh

(San Jose, Calif.) The San Jose Mercury News on Wednesday profiled the
troubles of online radio station provider Live365. The company, which lets
users program their own online radio stations using their CD collections,
recently laid off half its staff and put its remaining employees on a
two-week, unpaid "sabbatical." Foster City-based Live365 also went offline
recently when its bandwidth provider had its service shut off. The company
is attempting to add to the 40 percent of its income it currently derives
from subscription fees, and expects to break even this year.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svfront/live010202.htm
http://www.live365.com
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