Thursday, May 5, 2011Vitesse CFO To RetireCamarillo-based Vitesse Semiconductor, the maker of high speed networking ICs, said Thursday that Richard C. Yonker, its Chief Financial officer, is retiring. The firm said Yonker will remain in the position until a successor is found. Yonker has been at the firm since 2006, and was in charge of the major restructuring of the firm's finances after the company was caught up in stock options dating issues. Vitesse finally returned to the NASDAQ in March. Vitesse also announced its quarterly result (More info...)
posted on Thursday, May 5, 2011(Full story)
Demand Media Launches Long Form Article EffortSanta Monica-based Demand Media, the online publisher which runs such sites as eHow.com, typeF.com, and LIVESTRONG.COM, said Thursday afternoon that it is launching a new effort focused on long-form web content. The firm said it is looking to engage feature writers to write long articles--"north of 850 words"--for its sites. Demand Media said the new articles will look like "traditional" feature-length articles, including original reporting, exclusive quotes, and side-bars. It appears that the f (More info...)
posted on Thursday, May 5, 2011(Full story)
Identive Group Buys idOnDemandSanta Ana-based Identive Group, a provider of security and RFID products and services, said this week that it has acquired idOnDemand. Identive Group said it paid $2.4M in cash, plus 995,675 shares of its stock to the selling shareholders of idOnDemand. The deal also includes earn out of up to $21M in stock over the next three years and eight months. idOnDemand develops a managed service for handling identification, including access to buildings, computers, mobile devices and corporate informati (More info...)
posted on Thursday, May 5, 2011(Full story)
SocialVibe Ties Into Facebook CreditsLos Angeles-based SocialVibe, the social advertising firm headed by Jay Samit, said Thursday afternoon that it has linked into the Facebook platform, and will allow people to earn Facebook Credits through engaging with its video engagements. SocialVibe--which awards virtual items and credits from brands for interacting with their advertisements, web sites, Facebook pages, and other campaigns--said the credits will be awarded for interacting with a range of engagement ad units. SocialVibe is vent (More info...)
posted on Thursday, May 5, 2011(Full story)
Demand Media Revenues Up In Q1Santa Monica-based Demand Media reported its results Thursday, saying that it had a net loss of $5.6 million on revenues of $79.5M. Revenues were up 48 percent compared to the $53.6M in revenues the firm reported in Q1 of 2010. Demand Media said the revenues numbers were driven by continued momentum from its owned and operated sites. Demand also mentioned strong direct brand advertising sales helped its results. The results are the first as a public company for Demand, since its IPO in January.
posted on Thursday, May 5, 2011(Full story)
FindTheBest Snags Google, DoubleClick Vet As PresidentSanta Barbara-based FindTheBest.com, the online comparison site headed by DoubleClick founder Kevin O'Connor, has turned to a Google and DoubleClick vet to serve as President. The firm said that Rabin Yaghoubi, who previously launched and led content, commerce, and local partnerships at Google, will join the firm in New York at a new office. Yaghoubi was also an executive serving under O'Connor at DoubleClick, where he was Vice President of Global Media. As part of the appointment, FindTheBest.c (More info...)
posted on Thursday, May 5, 2011(Full story)
Active Network Revenues Up In Q1, Sets Trading SymbolSan Diego-based Active Network, the operator of sports registration and online community sites, said in a filing today that it had a net loss of $10.9M on revenues of $72.71M for the three months ended March 31, 2011. The firm--which is currently in IPO registration--also set its trading symbol as ACTV. Revenues were up 15% from the quarter ending March 30, 2010, when the firm reported a net loss of $12.4M on revenues of $63.2M. The updated numbers came from an amended S-1 filed by the firm Thur (More info...)
posted on Thursday, May 5, 2011(Full story)
Loudvine Partners With EventfulRedondo Beach-based Loudvine, which operates an online service to help artists connect with their fans, told its users today that it has inked a partnership with event listings site Eventful. Loudvine said all of the events on its site will also be listed on Eventful. Details of the partnership between the firms was not disclosed. Loudvine helps music fans find live music in different cities around the country.
posted on Thursday, May 5, 2011(Full story)
Zoovy Launches Amazon Automatic Pricing ToolCarlsbad-based Zoovy, the e-commerce software firm run by Brian Horakh, said this week that it has launched a new Amazon Repricing Engine, a software tool which helps e-commerce retailers automatically raise or lower their product pricing on Amazon.com, based on their competitor's prices. Zoovy said the tool automatically monitors SKUs from competitors, and handles adjusting prices for online businesses on Amazon's third party marketplace. Zoovy said the tool is aimed at keeping products in the (More info...)
posted on Thursday, May 5, 2011(Full story)
GoPro Boosted By Steamboat, OthersGoPro, the maker of wearable, action sports cameras, which has operations in San Diego, has scored a strategic investment which includes the involvement of Burbank Steamboat Ventures, GoPro said today. GoPro said it received a "substantial" strategic investment which included Riverwood Capital, Steamboat Ventures, Sageview Capital, Walden International, and U.S. Venture Partners. Amount of that funding was not announced. AS part of the funding, Steamboat's Laskey, Riverwood's Michael Marks, and (More info...)
posted on Thursday, May 5, 2011 (More)(Full story)
CityGrid Media Buys BuzzLabsWest Hollywood-based CityGrid Media, the unit of IAC formerly known as CitySearch, said today that it has acquired BuzzLabs, a social media monitoring and sentiment analysis software developer. Financial terms of the deal were not announced. CityGrid said the buy would help it aggregate and analyze millions of pieces of content across its network, and provide that data to its publishers and merchants. The company explained that it would be integrating BuzzLabs' technology into its platform over (More info...)
posted on Thursday, May 5, 2011(Full story)
SRS Labs Renews EchoStarSanta Ana-based SRS Labs, which develops surround sound and audio technology, reported today that EchoStar has renewed a multi-year licensing agreement with the firm. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. EchoStar is using SRS Labs' technology on its set-top boxes. SRS Labs develops technology to remove volume fluctuation in television programming and commercials, particularly the annoying switch to loud commercials between shows.
posted on Thursday, May 5, 2011(Full story)
QAD Names CTOSanta Barbara-based QAD, the developer of manufacturing resource management software, announced today that it has appointed Tony J. Winter as the firm's Chief Technology Officer. Winter has been at QAD since 1999, when he joined QAD Global Services in the UK. He was last Senior Director of R&D at the company in Santa Barbara.
posted on Thursday, May 5, 2011(Full story)
Epicor Deal Close Date ExtendedApax Partners, the private equity firm in the midst of acquiring Irvine's Epicor Software, said today that the various related funds buying Epicor have extended their date for the close of their tender offer for Epicor to May 13th, to coincide with debt financing of the deal. The funds had originally scheduled the close on May 6th. The various parties in the deal also said that they had not received any competing acquisition proposals for Epicor. Apax is buying Epicor for $976M. The deal had ori (More info...)
posted on Thursday, May 5, 2011(Full story)