Monday, July 2, 2012Fisker Automotive Names New CFOAnaheim-based Fisker Automotive said Monday that it has named a new CFO. The electric automobile maker said that it has appointed Jim Yost to the position, reporting to CEO Tom LaSorda. Yost was most recently Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of Dana Holdings, and also served at Ford Motor Company for 27 years, as well as Hayes Lemmerz.
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Quest Software Acquired By Dell For $2.4 BillionAliso Viejo-based Quest Software is in a deal to be acquired by Dell, for $2.4 billion, or $28.00 per share in cash, the two firms said this morning. The deal, which was reached after a long, drawn out bidding war between Insight Venture Partners and Dell. Quest had originally reached a deal to go private with Insight in March. Dell said the acquisition would help bolster its software efforts. Quest has approximately 3,850 employees. The announcement was the first public acknowledgement of Dell' (More info...)
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Ixia Buys BreakingPoint SystemsCalabasas-based Ixia, the developer of network testing equipment and software, announced this morning that it is in a definitive agreement to acquire BreakingPoint Systems, a developer of security testing tools. The deal is worth $160M in cash. Ixia, which is led by Vic Alston, said the deal will enable it to provide an end-to-end solution for monitoring, testing, and optimizing converged networks. Ixia has been in an acquisitive mood lately, most recently acquiring network monitoring equipment (More info...)
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Insights and Opinions: AWS: Time for a Multi-Vendor Cloud StrategyIt was a rough weekend for the cloud, with an outage over at Amazon Web Services disrupting access to such popular services as LinkedIn, Instagram, and many others. Not to mention, a leap second bug throwing off sites like Reddit and others Sunday. So, for our Insights and Opinions section this morning, we're sharing an editorial from Steve Zivanic, at San Diego's Nirvanix.
At a time when Amazon Web Services continues to experience multiple outages, it's becoming rather clear that the ans (More info...)
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THQ Plans Reverse Stock SplitBattered videogame developer THQ, which has been suffering from a downturn in its business, said today that it is planning a 1-for-10 reverse stock split, in order to raise its per share trading price so that it will regain compliance with a $1.00 per share, minimum bid price required by the NASDAQ Global Select Market. THQ has been suffering in recent months, having completely cut its efforts to compete in the kids' game segment, announcing multiple layoffs, and most recently delaying its lates (More info...)
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Maker Studios Partners With Snoop DogCulver City-based Maker Studios, the startup which is one of the biggest producers of content for YouTube, said Friday that it has inked a content development deal with hip-hop star Snoop Dogg. Maker said that the two will develop a slate of exclusive programming for Snoop Dog's YouTube channel, WestFestTV. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. According to Maker Studios, WestFestTV has over 200,000 subscribers. Content which will be included in the deal will include music videos, ca (More info...)
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Gaikai Acquired By Sony For $380MAliso Viejo-based Gaikai has been acquired by Sony, in a deal worth $380M, Sony announced early Monday morning. According to Sony, the deal, which was signed June 30th, help SCE establish a cloud service and expand its network business. Gaikai was founded in 2008, and had raised around $45M in funding. The firm's backers included Benchmark Capital, Intel Capital, Limelight Networks, New Enterprise Associates, Qualcomm Ventures, Rustic Canyon Partners, and TriplePoint Capital. Gaikai is a provide (More info...)
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LA's Beats Electronics Buys MOGBeats Electronic, the maker of the Beats By Dr. Dre headphones, is acquiring online music service MOG, the two firms said over the weekend. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. MOG, which was based in Berkeley, California, provided an online, streaming radio and music services which competes against such sites as Pandora and Slacker. Beats Electronics was co-founded by rapper Dr. Dre and Interscope Geffen's Jimmy Iovine. MOG was venture backed by Angels Forum, Balderton Capital (More info...)
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YourEvent Gets Angel RoundLos Angeles-based YourEvent.com, a startup developing a service to help users share photos of their events, has raised a round of angel funding. The funding came from the Billiken Angels Network, an angel group based in Saint Louis. Financial details of the round were not announced, although a recent regulatory filing indicates the firm recently raised around $240,000 in a funding round. Other investors in the round included SLP Ventures, American Pastime Ventures, and other angels. According to (More info...)
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SodaHead Taps Digital Advertising Firm Engage:BDRLos Angeles-based SodaHead has tapped a digital advertising and marketing agency to represent its inventory on a real time bidding platform. According to engage:BDR, which operates the First Impression real-time bidding platform, SodaHead is adding its more than 10 million monthly unique visitors to its platform. engage:BDR said that SodaHead's largest demographic is in the 18-24 range. engage:BDR says it has a reach of 109 million monthly unique users. SodaHead operates an online site focused o (More info...)
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