Monday, April 17, 2006QUALCOMM To Pay $1.8M To DOJ Over Flarion BuySan Diego-based QUALCOMM is paying the US Department of Justice $1.8M in civil penalties over the company's purchase of Flarion Technologies in July of last year. The DOJ announced late last week that it will require the companies to pay $1.8M for violating premeerger waiting period requirements. The DOJ had filed a complaint that QUALCOMM had obtained operational control over Flarion without observing the waiting period requirement in violation of federal antitrust law.
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Zinc Matrix Raises $7MCamarillo-based Zinc Matrix Power,a developer of silver zinc batteries targeted towards military and consumer applications, has raised $7M in a venture funding round. The firm said last week that it has received the funding from Intel Capital and OnPoint Technologies, and an undisclosed private equity group. Zinc Matrix is developing high energy desnity, silver-zinc batteries that the company said are projected to deliver as two times the energy as current lithium-ion batteries. The funding roun (More info...)
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Internet Brands Eyeing IPOLos Angeles-based Internet Brands is looking towards an IPO, according to Idealab's Bill Gross. In an interview this month with BusinessWeek, Gross said that Internet Brands is contemplating an IPO, and now a $300 million a year company. A representative of Internet Brands declined to comment on the report, saying to socalTECH Friday that Internet Brands has a long history of not discussing most financial matters. Internet Brands was formerly known as CarsDirect.com.
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DTS Finalizes Digital Booking AcquisitionAgoura Hills-based DTS said this morning that it has finalized its acquisition of Digital Booking Systems, which the company had announced in March. Digital Booking Systems was a unit of FilmStew International, and provided the ability for cinema exhibitors and distributors to manage their communications via the Internet. DTS said that the acquisition would continue its expansion of products and services for an increasingly digital and software-based film industry. J. Sperling Reich, founding di (More info...)
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Akonix Rolls Out Enterprise Development KitSan Diego-based Akonix, a provider of instant messaging appliances, said today that it has rolled out a new development kit for developing real-time communications applications. Akonix said that the new kit will enable developers to build instant messaging "bots", automated applications that interact with humans via instant messaging. The kits allows developers to create "bots" that work with MSN Messenger. Users are using the capability to creat such things are virtual DJs to allow users to mak (More info...)
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Boost Mobile In Deal with MLGIrvine-based Boost Mobile has inked a deal with Major League Gaming (MLG), a video game circuit competition, to sponsors its 2006 and 2007 pro circuits. Boost said that it will provide exclusive access to MLG's content, including video diaries and play highlights. MLG competitors will also use Boost's walkie-talkie service for instant communications with teammates during events. Boost Mobile is a subsidiary of Sprint Nextel developing a youth oriented wireless service.
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Interchange Adds VP EngineeringIrvine-based Interchange, which operates Local.com, has named another executive this morning, saying that it has hired Lee Siegfried as vice president of Engineering. Siegfried was most recently COO at Future Trade, and has also served at DHL and Instinet. Local.com operates a local search engine business.
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Ocera Adds Chief Medical OfficerSan Diego-based Ocera Therapeutics has named a Chief Medical Officer, announcing that Xavier Frapaise has joined the firm. Frapaise joins from TAP Pharmaceutical Products. Ocera is developing products for the treatment of gastrointestinal and liver diseases, and is backed by Domain Associates.
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