Thursday, August 18, 2016Gawker To Shut Down After Acquisition By LA's UnivisionOnline news site Gawker Media will shut down its operations, after its acquisition by LA's Univision on Tuesday, according to the site. According to Gawker, Nick Denton, the current CEO of Gawker, told staffers that staffers will be moved to one of Gawker's other six sites, or elsewhere within Univision, as a result of the acquisition. Univision won the bid for Gawker via a bankruptcy auction on Tuesday, agreeing to pay $135M for the company. Gawker was forced into bankruptcy due to the loss of (More info...)
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Blue Cut Fire Visible From SpaceThe scientists at NASA JPL in Pasadena released a photo--taken by the NASA Terra satellite--which shows the huge expanse of the Blue Cut Fire, only a day after it broke out east of Los Angeles in the Cajon Pass. NASA said its photo, taken by the Multi-angle Imaging SepctroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on its Terra satellite, was taken around 11:50am PDT on August 17th, approximately a day after the Blue Cut ignited. The Blue Cut fire is now at around 31,689 acres, with more than 1500 firefighters (More info...)
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YP Names New CEOLos Angeles-based local search site YP said today that it has named a new CEO, Jared Rowe. Rowe was most recently at Cox Enterprises, serving as President of Cox Automotive Media Solutions Group--which runs Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book, and Dealer.com. Rowe had been at Cox since 2010. Former CEO David Krantz, who has led YP since its spinoff from AT&T in 2012, will continue as a Strategic Advisor to the company. The company said Rowe will become CEO on September 1st. YP offers up local search an (More info...)
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Snapchat Plans Growth In New YorkVenice, California-based Snapchat is planning a big expansion in New York City, and plans to grow to around 400 people in the city, after the Empire State Development Corp offered up as much as $5M in tax break to the company. According to the New York Post, Snapchat currently has around 100 employees in New York City.
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Avelas Biosciences Raises $20MSan Diego-based biopharmaceuticals developer Avelas Biosciences has raised $20M in a Series C funding, according to the company. The new funding was led by Pharmstandard International, S.A., and laos included Ervington Investments Limited and Alexandria Venture Investments plus Avalon Ventures, Bregua Corporation, and WuXi Healthcare Ventures. Avelas Biosciences is developing treatments for cancer. Andrei Petrov, Ph.D., has joined the company's board as a result of the funding; Petrov represents (More info...)
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FreedomPop Rolls Out Free, Unlimited Access To WhatsAppLos Angeles-based mobile broadband provider FreedomPop has begun offering up free, unlimited access to the popular social messaging app WhatsApp, across the U.s. and another 30 countries across the globe. According to FreedomPop, the new service is being provided with the use of a "WhatsApp SIM", which plugs into either an Android or iOS phone. The new SIM also includes up to 200MB of data and 100 voice minutes to each user in addition to the unlimited WhatsApp access. WhatsApp and FreedomPop ha (More info...)
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InTouch Health Adds Telemedicine Services, Acquires AcuteCareSanta Barbara-based InTouch Health announced this morning that it is expanding into the tele-physician services market, and has acquired AcuteCare Telemedicine. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. AcuteCare Telemedicine was based in Atlanta, Georgia, and was founded in 2009. InTouch Health said the acquisition will help it extend its offerings.
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ReVision Optics Raises $10M In Credit FacilityLake Forest-based ReVision Optics, which is developing an implantable presbyopia-correcting corneal inlay technology, said this morning that it has obtained a $10M, credit facility, from Square 1 Bank. The company said the credit line will be used for working capital, including commercial oeprations. Terms of that new credit facility were not announced. Square 1 Bank is a divisio of Pacific Western Bank.
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