The Web Week in Review
The news that captured my attention this week took a big media slant...
VC: European media companies need to buy more of my startups
Saul Klein, a partner at Index Ventures, one of Europe's largest venture capital firms, has some shocking advice for European media companies.
They need to buy more of the startups that VC firms like his have backed.
The Greater Fool Theory and Web 2.0
Would you:
- Put $20m into a company that you're valuing at $75m and has no proven mainstream appeal, scalability problems or business model?
- Invest $25m at a $200m valuation in a company that has already raised $12.5m, has reportedly generated about $1m in revenues since its launch in 2005 and was unable to develop acquisition interest at $250m?
- Give $50m and a $500m valuation to a profitless company that does $10-12m in annual revenues and whose CEO has said, "We’re like a teen in our clock cycle. Now, we have to figure out how do you get a job and work in the real world"?
Yahoo plans to be more social
When one looks at the landscape of the social networking market, it's apparent that most of the major internet companies (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc.) have been left behind in one way or another.
Despite the fact that they have a presence in the market, all have played catch-up more than they've led and none has been able to fully cash in on one of the most hyped internet trends ever.
The Web Week in Review
Are you as tired of the Microsoft-Yahoo news as I am? I hope that I will soon be able to include an article about a finalized buyout in an upcoming Web Week in Review episode just so that I can call the nightmare over.
That said, I had to include one Microsoft-Yahoo news article in this week's Web Week in Review.
MySpace lines up music labels to compete with iTunes
MySpace has teamed up with three of the four major record labels, Sony BMG, Warner Music and Universal, to make their catalogues available via MySpace Music.
Drama 2.0's Web Week in Review
The headlines this past week were dominated by economic news - news that is having an impact on the technology markets. Here are the stories I found most interesting.
Yahoo should take the money and run
There's been a lot of debate and discussion about Microsoft's offer to acquire Yahoo.
Thus far, Drama 2.0 has shied away from the drama.
The Web Week in Review
The past week was again dominated by big topics driven by the economic landscape.
From Microsoft's attempted buyout of a struggling Yahoo to Cisco's disappointing financial outlook, it's clear that the Fun Train has left the station and the Reality Train is on its way.
Big Media to web firms - all your money belongs to us
Big Media's checkmate over many of the internet companies that were supposed to put it out of business has been inevitable.
But that inevitability is just now becoming clear to some internet idealogues as they recover from their kool aid-induced stupours.
As such, I thought it'd be worthwhile to look at three recent stories that exemplify how Big Media is slowly but surely starting to demonstrate its strength over many supposed internet threats.
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
