Indian Stock Market

Skype is on way to start a Rs 500 crore IPO in US markets. Company is headquartered in Luxumberg and plans to issue American depository receipt.

Skype has generated more than $406 million in sales, with 560 million registered users — up 41% from a year earlier. Paying users, though just a fraction of the overall user base, jumped 23% to 8.1 million from 6.6 million a year ago.

History of Skype:

EBay bought Skype for $2.6 billion in 2005, only to sell it four years later for $2.75 billion to an investment group led by private equity firm Silver Lake Partners. The online auction company had hoped to use Skype to facilitate communication between auction buyers and sellers, but that never quite happened.

EBay actually planned an IPO for Skype, but opted for the straight sale instead.

The match of Skype and EBay may not have panned out, but the company has been a consistent revenue driver for years. EBay estimated that the Internet phone company is on track to break $1 billion in revenue by 2011.

BIG 92.7 FM has decided to launch FM Station on Mobile. It has tied up with OnMobile Global to launch it in mobile.

It will be available in 17 multi-lingual specially programmed channels in India. This service will also be available in select global markets including Malaysia, Singapore, UAE, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Indonesia which have large Indian communities.

So soon , we can enjoy hearing radio with our data connections through Mobile. But the clarity will be much reduced without 3G. BSNL 3G Subscribers can enjoy .

Start of Mobile Data revolution.

YouTube has won the rights for live streaming of IPL 2010 . It’s going to be the most watched event on web. Potential audience for IPL works out to be around 2000 million people around the world.Even if 20% of them watch it through YouTube it is enough to crash servers of Google to stop YouTube service .

No news from Google to what they are gonna do to prevent the servers from crashing.

So let’s see if March 12 turns out to be a nightmare for Google.

Google Investors looking for next big Hit

Google Inc made its fortune on Internet search ads, but Wall Street is increasingly eager for signs that the company’s other

“Even though paid search is 95 percent of the business, I think everybody’s looking for that next trick,” said John Lutz, a senior research analyst at Frost Investment Advisors, which owns Google shares.

Google will brief investors in a Webcast on Wednesday about search and monetization, though Google spokeswoman Jane Penner said the event will focus more on the monetization of search than on businesses like YouTube.

The Internet giant has myriad initiatives, including a display ad business, mobile Internet products and YouTube, the world’s top video Web site. But none have demonstrated the kind of financial horsepower typically associated with Google, which generated nearly $22 billion in revenue last year.

The Mountain View, California company has been tight-lipped when it comes to the financials of non-search businesses, though there are signs it is opening up a little.

In July, Google lifted the covers slightly on YouTube, revealing that YouTube is monetizing billions of video views every month and that it expects YouTube to become a profitable business in the not-too-distant future. Executives wanted to dispel reports that YouTube, which it acquired for $1.65 billion in 2006, does not have a credible business model.

NEW FORMATS

Brigantine Advisors analyst Colin Gillis said new ad formats that incorporate videos and graphics could prove key to Google’s future growth, as the company courts advertisers like Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble. “Google’s got to give them a good format to convey emotion. This is going to be the next major area,” said Gillis.

Google sought to bolster its display ad business with the 2008 acquisition of ad network DoubleClick for $3.1 billion. But rivals Yahoo Inc, Microsoft and Time Warner Inc’s AOL still dominate that market.

Analysts also point to Google’s mobile efforts, such as specialized search applications for smartphones, as a natural extension of its business. The price of each ad should be higher, because Google can display fewer paid search links on a phone’s screen, Sanford Bernstein analyst Jeff Lindsay said.

Moreover, mobile content has the potential to incorporate a user’s geographic location, making the ad more specific and relevant, which could also drive up pricing. “The hypothesis was that mobile search would deliver much higher revenue per search,” said Lindsay, but it is unclear whether that is the case.

Analysts estimate that mobile search ads now yield less than 5 percent of Google’s revenue. The question is when mobile could become a more significant source of revenue. “It’s not really this year. It’s the next three to four years,” said Lindsay.

Near-term, search is still what moves the needle. “The most important thing that everybody wants to figure out is what does a recovery scenario look like for search,” said RBC Capital Markets’ Ross Sandler. “Once you get beyond that, and that starts to get priced-in and well-understood, that’s when Act 2 or Act 3 becomes important.”

CitiGroup Global Markets Mauritius has purchased shares worth Rs 23.82 crore of Info Edge (India), which owns leading job portal naukri.com, through an open market transaction. 

In a bulk deal data available on the NSE, the fund house bought 4.49 lakh shares of Info Edge at Rs 530 a piece, aggregating to Rs 23.82 crore. 

In another bulk deal data available on the NSE, fund house Fidelity sold 3.80 lakh shares of Info Edge (India) for Rs 20.14 crore. 

Besides, foreign fund house Goldman Sachs Investments Mauritius offloaded 13.80 lakh shares of information technology firm Rolta India at Rs 77.92 per share, aggregating to Rs 10.75 crore, through an open market transaction.

Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.

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Google Inc is releasing its own Web browser in a long-anticipated move aimed at countering the dominance of Microsoft Corp’s Internet Explorer and ensuring easy access to its market-leading search engine.
The free browser, called “Chrome,” is supposed to be available for downloading Tuesday in more than 100 countries for computers running on Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Google said it’s still working on versions compatible with Apple Inc’s Mac computer and the Linux operating system.

Google’s browser is expected to hit the market a week after Microsoft’s unveiling of a test version of its latest browser update, Internet Explorer 8.

The tweaks include more tools for Web surfers to cloak their online preferences, creating a shield that could make it more difficult for Google and other marketing networks to figure out which ads are most likely to appeal to which individuals.

Although Google is using a cartoonish approach to promote Chrome, the new browser underscores the gravity of Google’s rivalry with Microsoft, whose Internet Explorer is used by about 75 percent of Web surfers.

Domestic IT company Northgate Technologies today said its subsidiary Globe7 HK has entered into partnerships with three Chinese advertising firms — Baidu, Alimama and Allyes.
The partnerships would build mainland advertising exposure for Globe7 products — Globe7.com, Egglad.com, Ziddu.com and Longhaier.com, Northgate Technologies said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The partnership with China’s largest online agency Allyes would allow the exchange of advertising on Allyes SmartTrade with Globe7′s recently launched advertising platform for the Chinese-speaking trade, it added.

“We are glad to extend our Chinese network by working with the leading advertising partners there. This will build our penetration in the country and provide our Chinese partners with a strong presence in India through our social networking sites here,” Globe7 President and CEO Clayton Haswell said.

The agreement also provides the company an advertising presence on China’s largest search engine, Baidu and on Alimama which has a dominant presence in enabling global trade with China.

Shares of the company were trading at Rs 299, down 3.02 per cent on the BSE.
 
 
 

Ybrant Digital, a Hyderabad-based digital marketing solutions firm, is mounting a bid to acquire ‘Spam King’ Scott Richter’s Media Breakaway for about $100 million, sources said.

The US target is an industry leader in performance-based online advertising and direct marketing, but has hogged limelight for its million-dollar legal battles with Microsoft and MySpace in the recent past. This bid for a significant player in the US online-advertising market is the biggest inorganic growth move by Ybrant, which has sewed several smaller overseas acquisitions, to emerge as an integrated digital media marketing solutions provider.

It is believed that Ybrant is seeking PE support to effect the acquisition. PE sources said Ybrant may go in for a staggered buyout, which would see it taking a majority 51% stake initially. Ybrant is raising about $30 million through private placement of equity for the proposed acquisition. Ybrant’s valuation is pegged at around $150-180 million.

Media Breakaway, once acknowledged as the world’s leading spammer, is credited with sending out 100-million emails on a single day. In 2005, Mr Richter’s name was deleted from the Registry of Known Spam Operations (ROKSO) list after Spamhaus confirmed that his company did not receive any complaints for more than a year.

It boosted the fortunes of the Nevada-based company, which at the height of its legal battle with Microsoft and New York Attorney General had filed for bankruptcy. Last month, the company settled another suit with MySpace, which alleged that Richter’s firm gained access to members’ account for sending spam messages.

When contacted, Ybrant chairman & CEO Suresh Reddy said: “We are evaluating the possibility of acquiring a company in the US. We are in discussions with a few firms there and the deal size will be about $100 million. However, we are yet to finalise our acquisition target.”

Executives of Internet services firm AOL and software giant Microsoft held formal talks to discuss the possible 40-billion dollar breakup of internet major Yahoo! on Wednesday, a media report said on Thursday.

The Times reported that a team from AOL, the internet arm of media conglomerate Time Warner, met Microsoft officials to negotiate the possible split of Yahoo! which could lead to the software giant seizing control.

“It is understood that the AOL team flew to Microsoft’s headquarters in Seattle to negotiate possible terms of a breakup that could see the software giant seize control of Yahoo!’s online search business.

“The talks, thought to be preliminary, precede Yahoo!’s annual meeting on August 1, when the activist billionaire shareholder Carl Icahn will seek to oust the board,” the newspaper said.

According to the report, Yahoo! insiders insist that an offer that sought to break up the company would not work because of difficulty in valuing its non-search business.

For the past few months, Microsoft has been making efforts to acquire Yahoo!. A deal that would give an edge to the software giant to compete with rival Google in the fast growing online advertising market.

Last week, Yahoo! had rejected a joint proposal from Microsoft and billionaire investor Carl Icahn for a complex restructuring of the internet major. The offer included the buyout of Yahoo!’s search business by Microsoft.

In May, after making an offer of 33 dollars per share to Yahoo!, Microsoft withdrew its proposal.

“Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly five billion dollars, Yahoo! has not moved toward accepting our offer…,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had said while announcing the withdrawal of offer.

Raman Roy’s Quatrro BPO Solutions has acquired UK-based Babel Media, provider of specialist services to the online games and interactive entertainment industry. This is Quatrro’s sixth acquisition and industry experts peg the deal in the range of $25-30 million (Rs 110-130 crore).

“The acquisition is part of the company’s agenda of building strategically important businesses in undeserved and uncontested market spaces. With the acquisition, we have brought the games testing and localisation segment to the country,” said Raman Roy.

The acquisition has been funded through both debt and equity route. A report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers estimated that the gaming industry to grow by about 30-40 per cent to $27 billion (about Rs 115,180 crore) to $68 billion (Rs 295,120 crore) by 2012.

Quatrro is also planning a tie-up with a US-based company, which will be finalised soon. Besides, the company is also evaluating 11 new verticals in the country and will expand gaming in eastern Europe also.

Quatrro will do testing and localisation of games and the firm is also is the process of adding its human source. Algy Williams, co-founder of Babel, will take on the role of a non-executive director in the firm.

Microsoft is considering a new attempt to buy part of Yahoo in a deal with other media companies that would likely see a break-up of the Internet firm, a report said on Wednesday.

Microsoft has approached Time Warner and News Corp, among other media companies, to assess their interest in different parts of Yahoo, according to sources close to the discussions quoted by the newspaper.

The software giant has in the past suggested an arrangement under which it would acquire Yahoo’s search engine business and another partner would join forces with what was left of the Internet firm.

According to the same sources, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer asked Yahoo president Roy Bostock for a meeting to discuss a new idea involving other partners. The meeting, set for Monday, was subsequently cancelled by Microsoft.

Microsoft has ruled out making another bid for the whole of Yahoo, after it withdrew a nearly 48-billion-dollar offer in May, and Yahoo announced June 12 that discussions with the software giant on a tie-up had ended.

Yahoo has since launched several moves to persuade investors that it made the right decision, including a new advertising deal with rival Google.

Microsoft Corp’s alternative proposal for Yahoo Inc involves Microsoft buying Yahoo’s search business and taking a minority passive stake in the company, once Yahoo has spun off its Asian assets, a person familiar with the discussions said on Monday.

The proposal is little more than an outline reflecting Microsoft’s thinking, and does not yet include a value for Yahoo’s search business, said the source, who was not authorized to speak on the record because the discussions are confidential

The Internet firm says it believe the offer substantially undervalues the company, but adds that it is not opposed, in principle to a deal with the software giant

Responding to Microsoft’s threat to lower the bid price, Yahoo on Monday once again rejected the US$44.6bn unsolicited bid from the software giant, indicating that the offer must be raised before any merger can take place.

“The management and most of its investors believe that the offer substantially undervalues the company,” Yahoo said in a statement. However, Yahoo did say that it was not opposed in principle to a deal with Microsoft, provided the current offer is increased.

“As a result of the decrease in your own stock price, the value of your proposal today is significantly lower than it was when you made your initial proposal,” Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and Chairman Roy Bostock wrote in a letter to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

On April 5, Ballmer sent a letter to Yahoo, threatening to offer the deal directly to stockholders if the company’s board did not respond by April 26. Ballmer gave Yahoo three weeks to negotiate a takeover or face a proxy battle.

“We consider your threat to commence an unsolicited offer and proxy contest to displace our independent board members to be counterproductive,” Yang and Bostock wrote in the letter to Ballmer.

Microsoft’s original cash-and-stock bid was formally rejected by Yahoo’s board, but the software giant maintained that its offer was fair and that it didn’t plan to sweeten the price. There has been some interaction between management of the two companies, but talks haven’t led to an agreement.

“Steve, you personally attended two of these meetings and could have advanced discussions in any way you saw fit,” Yang and Bostock said in response to Ballmer’s claim that Yahoo has refused to enter into negotiations.

Yahoo is still evaluating alternatives to Microsoft’s offer, which was 62% higher than Yahoo’s stock price at the time of the bid.

“We are open to all alternatives that maximize stockholder value,” Yahoo said in the letter. “This includes a transaction with Microsoft if it represents a price that fully recognises the value of Yahoo on a standalone basis.”

Microsoft offered US$31 per share in cash and stock for Yahoo on January 31. The company rejected the offer on Feb. 11.

Yahoo shares dropped 56 cents to US$27.80 in early trading after closing at US$28.36 on the Nasdaq Stock Market on April 4. Microsoft closed at US$29.16