AllThingsD » Demand Media

Eleven Things About Demand Media's Richard Rosenblatt

Beth Callaghan — Fri, 18 May 2012 21:08:37 +0000

Demand Media CEO Richard Rosenblatt is perennially upbeat, and given the fact that his company just turned in a strong Q1 despite potentially disastrous changes in Google’s all-important search algorithm, he’s got good cause, at least for now.

Here, in keeping with the Ten Things tradition of sharing more than 10 things, are 11 things about Rosenblatt:

What qualities do you like in a person?
I admire people who are curious, innovative, respectful to everyone and eternally optimistic. I firmly believe that the best days are in front of us and we must always try new things while learning from others, in order to continually grow as people.

What qualities do you dislike?
People who are constantly negative rather than being constructive, or those who are jealous of another’s success. Being positive is a state of mind and all about how you perceive a situation — is it a permanent fall or a chance to learn and get back up? I’m also disillusioned by how negatively people react to another’s success when it’s not a zero sum game.

What’s the single most important issue in the world today?
Education. No question. Whether it’s formal or informal. There is unlimited knowledge available via the Internet, and we need to find an effective way to spread this knowledge globally to people who can benefit from it.

Do you still buy CDs or rent DVDs?
No, I download all media on my iPad or stream it through services such as Spotify or Netflix.

What would you be doing if you were not in your current job?
I’d be looking for the next opportunity to innovate in the online media landscape and increase my lecturing opportunities at UCLA and USC.

What is your greatest achievement to date?
Raising three respectful kids who are curious, innovative and optimistic.

iPhone, Android or BlackBerry?
All iPhone all the time.

What site/app do you check first when you wake up?
Twitter to get some news and tweet some info. Then eHow.com, Livestrong.com and Cracked.com to see what’s new and exciting on our properties. And then I’m tweeting again.

What was the last thing you fixed?
Boy, that’s a tough one. I’d say (and my wife would punctuate the point) that “handiness” is not one of my strengths. But, I inflated a flat tire on my son’s bike last weekend, and, as of now, it’s holding air.

If you could have any superpower, what would you choose?
Freeze time, so we would all have more time in the day!

Name your favorite guilty pleasure.
Wine, paddle tennis and pizza (without cheese). The perfect day would be enjoying all three at once!

Demand Media's Q1 Earnings: Kung-Goog Panda Did Not Kill Us!

Kara Swisher — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:16:14 +0000

Earlier today, Demand Media turned a Q1 performance that beat expectations and also raised its outlook for the year ahead.

Revenue was $82.9 million, up 9 percent, compared to an estimate of $79.6 million. Earnings per share, adjusted for one-time costs, were seven cents, above the expected five cents.

You can read it all here in these lovely Demand slides:

Demand_Media_Q1 Supplemental Data FINAL

Not bad, given many investors have been down on Demand, for a variety of reasons, mostly centered on traffic pressure due to search algorithm changes on the all-important Google. The low stock price resulted in a deal, in which Demand recently almost went private.

So what does CEO Richard Rosenblatt have to say for himself about all this? Here’s a liveblog of the conference call with Wall Street analysts, taking place at 2 pm PT.

Earlier:

2:05 pm: The call started a little late, but Rosenblatt was quick at it, noting the news was a lot better than was thought.

Always a jaunty dude, he was jauntier than usual, if possible, throwing in a lot of terms like “growth,” “momentum” and “Those fiddling geeks from Google did not kill us, after all!” Okay, not the last one.

It was a strong performance, indeed, which is a cause for happiness, I suppose, and especially since Demand’s stock has been in the doldrums since it went public earlier this year.

Not Groupon bad, but that’s a moon crater.

“It was a strong performance,” said Rosenblatt. He gets to say that.

More on the specifics, which showed growth in pages views, engagement and such things on its flagship sites, such as Cracked and LiveStrong. Its juggernaut, eHow, is still recovering from the Google search changes, in an effort deceptively called Panda.

This was not a cuddly panda, but Panda Gone Wild.

2:18 pm: The CFO guy who just repeats the numbers in the press release. (This is the part where I go to the bathroom.)

2:28 pm: Back! Sorry I took so long, but I was getting a computer science degree. (You knew that Yahoo joke was coming!)

The CFO is still chitchatting, still positive about the year ahead and saying “growth” a lot.

2:30 pm: Time for Q&A!

The first is about the mobile arena and monetization there.

Important, but no one is anywhere on this, due to the fact that it does not monetize very well at this point in time.

Everyone has a smartphone now, but the advertising part of it is still a wee baby.

“The monetization will come later,” said Rosenblatt, pointing out the obvious, although he did note that Demand was focusing in it.

Whee! Get on it, Chief of Revenue Joanne Bradford (I know you work hard, but work harder)!

Now to video. More monetizable, obviously, and Demand has a lot of videos to offer, being one of the bigger content providers to YouTube.

I am now officially tired of this question. Next!

2:35 pm: Ooh, a future and direction question about eHow.

“How should we think about its utility in the world?,” asks the analyst.

You should think about it as a place to learn to boil an egg, which is what Rosenblatt mentions. Who doesn’t want to know how to boil an egg? And who doesn’t forget how long to do it, resulting in rubber balls or drippy messes?

These are the great queries of our day, people!

The next question is about “bullish” YouTube upfront last week, in which Google pretended to go Hollywood.

Google will never go Hollywood, by the way, since it requires charm and glamour.

Demand was not there, but it is all up on the YouTube channel thing.

And, why not, since Google is giving away dough to become Hollywood. (Not … gonna … happen … ever, but take the money, all you celebs!)

2:40 pm: Next question is about mobile, again. Quantify that, and when is it going to be big?

No one can say yet, but why not ask!

Still, Rosenblatt makes a college try (I wonder if he has a CS degree?), noting it is “happening fast.”

Another question on YouTube channels and then on registar business.

Rosenblatt and Google are apparently going to see if they can make a go of this thing! Like kids putting on a show in the barn! Let’s see if we can make something of this dang talented group of kids!

The questions never end. Wait, the analyst asks about All Things Digital and my story on their private equity deal!

I can check another one off my bucket list: Being mentioned on a Demand Media earnings call!

Rosenblatt cannot say much, but notes, “We have a duty as a public company to look at anything that comes across.”

Which means it’s true, though he might have taken a moment to compliment my scooptastic skills.

Sigh.

2:51 pm: I am bereft by the slight, but shall recover.

And now it is over, so it is back to boiling my egg.

Demand Media Trims Losses as Sales Rise

Rex Crum — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:09:26 +0000

Demand Media Inc. on Tuesday reported a fiscal first-quarter loss of $1.8 million, or 2 cents a share, on revenue, excluding traffic-acquisition costs, that rose 8.5 percent to $82.9 million

Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had forecast Demand Media to earn 5 cents a share on $80.5 million in revenue.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Nope! Still No Bubble Here, Says Marc Andreessen.

Peter Kafka — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:44:53 +0000

It will be a man-bites-dog story when a prominent tech investor comes out and declares that we are in fact in a bubble, and that they’ve stopped investing in tech companies.

But for the record: Marc Andreessen, who is now perhaps Silicon Valley’s most prominent investor, does not think we’re in a bubble.

Andreessen has been saying this for some time — like a year ago, at All Things Digital’s D9 conference – and he repeated himself at Wired magazine’s business conference this morning.

The main thrust: This can’t possibly be a bubble, because leading technology firms like Apple are trading at relatively modest multiples. Meanwhile, most of the highly celebrated tech companies that have gone public in the last year, like Demand Media, Groupon and Pandora, have all seen their stock prices get hammered.

“If we’re in a bubble, it’s the weirdest bubble I’ve ever seen, where everybody hates everything,” Andreessen told Wired editor Chris Anderson.

But that’s the public market, Anderson pointed out. What about the private deals, where very young start-ups are frequently being valued at $1 billion or more?

Well, maybe there’s something off there, Andreessen conceded. A “strangeness in the way the market is behaving.” Some of that stems from the way that capital is flowing, because institutional investors are looking for places other than the stock market to park their cash. But that’s only relevant for a “small number” of companies and investors, so that can’t qualify as a bubble, either.

We will listen respectfully to Andreessen, because he has a big brain, and has been intimately involved in a bubble or two himself (that 1996 Time magazine cover featuring him marked the beginning of the Web 1.0 irrational exuberance phase). But for a commonsense, plain-English counterpoint to all of this, see BuzzFeed. (Really!)

Exclusive: The Billion-Dollar Inside Story of How Demand Media Almost Went Private Last Week (And Then Didn't)

Kara Swisher — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 18:02:46 +0000

According to sources close to the situation, Demand Media was deep into discussions with a private equity firm to complete a deal that would have taken the online content company private, nearing a price that was double its current value.

But Demand abandoned the effort this past week — which was born from an aggressive attempt by Boston-based Thomas H. Lee Partners to purchase the company for a price of up to $1.2 billion. That was due to a number of challenges, including complications related to its financing and the ability to retain executives in its aftermath.

The move on Demand by private investors is perhaps no surprise, and is part of a wider trend related to some Internet companies whose stocks have a depressed value relative to the worth of their assets.

Among companies having been and also being evaluated by private equity firms, whose business it is to turned the undervalued into a goldmine: Yahoo and AOL.

And also Demand, which is now worth only $605 million, a market cap that is off 65 percent since it went public in February 2011. Shares now trade at $7.25 each.

That depressed share price has been due to a number of issues, most especially changes to Google’s search algorithm to improve results. Called Panda, the changes at the search giant — a critical partner of Demand’s — has cut traffic to its major content sites and also called into question its ability to monetize its scaled editorial efforts.

Such a situation is nearly irresistible to PE firms — in this case, Lee, which approached Demand.

Several sources said that the board threw out a hefty number that it assumed would shut down any interest and the pair began talking with an initial offer to take the company private at $11.28 a share.

That equals close to $1 billion for Demand, which also has more than $100 million in cash. But sources said Lee and Demand also discussed the addition of a large loan as part of the ongoing discussions, for possible acquisitions related to a content roll-up strategy it had, which would bring the total up to $1.2 billion.

One source underscored that the board of the Santa Monica, Calif., company had no interest or intention to sell the business, but that the premium was large enough that it engaged.

The deal from Lee, which also included a strategy of splitting up the content arm from Demand’s lucrative domain-registar business.

There were also large cash-out provisions for major shareholders, as well as for CEO and co-founder Richard Rosenblatt.

Thus, the two sides engaged intensely in the last several weeks in crafting an agreement, although the devil would prove to be in the details.

One big issue is that taking Demand private was still a big financial commitment for Lee — which tried to engage some of its limited partners in the transaction — as well as other investors, including Silicon Valley’s Marc Andreessen.

That proved harder than Lee thought, said sources, with some balking at the firm’s ability to make a big enough score on the possible turnaround.

“It was hoped it would be a Skype situation, but there were worries,” said one source, referring to the blockbuster sale of the Internet telephony company by private investors to Microsoft for $8.5 billion last year. That deal was widely considered a PE home run, given the excessive premium paid for it.

Demand’s challenges increasingly worried the firm as it moved forward, sources said, causing it to reevaluate its earlier bid several times.

Also a worry: Retaining major talent, including Rosenblatt and others, after they sold large chunks of their equity.

After Lee asked for more time to complete the financing, Demand ended the talks last week.

Another source, as is typical in these endings, said it was the Lee that walked away (who knows and, really, who cares — both sides were engaged seriously).

One thing was true: “Demand was definitely at the altar, but it did not get to the vows,” said one source.

Another source noted that the board also determined that Demand’s situation was improving, and that new trends are showing that the bottom might be been reached. The company reports its first-quarter earnings on May 8, which is expected to show some traction related to its many challenges.

“There is nothing Lee could do that Demand could not do for itself,” said one person. “So throwing in the towel seemed premature for now.”

Lee declined to comment, as did Demand.

Big-Data Tracker Metamarkets Gets New Money to Back Its Newish CEO

Peter Kafka — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:00:41 +0000

Last year, analytics start-up Metamarkets mulled a purchase offer from Twitter, and ended up raising money instead. Now, investors are pouring more money in, via a $15 million round led by Khosla Ventures.

The three-year-old “big-data” company has now raised some $23 million, and is using the new money to expand into additional business lines.

Metamarkets started out providing data tracking and analytics to digital publishers like AOL, Demand Media and the Financial Times, so they could get a better handle on the value of their ad inventory.

But now it is branching out into other industries where companies generate enormous streams of data, like social media and payment start-ups.

CEO Mike Driscoll won’t disclose the names of his clients in these new categories. But Twitter and Square sure seem like obvious candidates. And it’s worth noting that Foursquare generates an awful lot of data, and Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley has made angel investments in Metamarkets.

It’s also worth noting that Driscoll, who co-founded the company and was its CTO, wasn’t CEO until January. He replaced co-founder David Soloff, who Driscoll says now works as a “close adviser” to the start-up.

My understanding is that the swap is at least partly related to that buyout offer Metamarkets didn’t take. People familiar with the company say that Soloff was interested in taking the deal, while his backers wanted him to build a bigger company — and generate a bigger return on their investment.

Driscoll won’t comment on the story behind the change. But he notes that the new funding makes it clear that “Metamarkets is not interested in going out for a small amount of dollars anytime soon.”

“I think too many people in Silicon Valley are shortsighted,” he says. “This is a huge space, and the opportunity is massive.”

(Image courtesy of Shutterstock/sommthink)

Demand Media Adds a Dash of Social to Its Ads, With Help From Facebook and Twitter

Peter Kafka — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:30:13 +0000

Web publishers and marketers are constantly trying to find new ways to get surfers to check out their ads. Here’s Demand Media’s latest attempt: Turn ads into portals for Facebook, Twitter and other social nets.

The concept here is pretty basic. Demand’s “Social Feed” ads incorporate a, um, “social feed” pop-out. It shows surfers a stream of commentary from and about a brand, via services like Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

The contents of the stream will appear the way they show up on Facebook, Twitter, etc. But Demand hosts and curates the stream, so advertisers don’t have to worry about torrents of spam showing up, or debacles like McDonald’s ill-fated Twitter campaign.

You can see some examples here, or check out a mock-up below:

And that’s it. Pretty simple idea, though Demand says it’s fairly complicated to build, which is why it bought rich-media ad shop IndieClick last summer. Sales boss Joanne Bradford says Demand won’t charge any more for the ads, for now, than it already does for its conventional ads that feature video, sound, etc.

Most interesting to me is the big picture: Demand, which does (sort of) traditional Web publishing, attempts to cash in on the appeal of social media, without having to have its own social media service. Meanwhile Facebook, Twitter, etc., shouldn’t have a problem with it, since the ads also function as ads for Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Still, since Demand is piggybacking on other services to sell its own ads, there can always be complications.

Earlier this month, for instance, Demand showed me a slightly different version of the concept, which served up commentary directly from Facebook, using the company’s public API. But something about that didn’t please Mark Zuckerberg and company, so Demand is doing it this way instead.

Bradford says that Facebook and every other service it is tapping into have signed off on the new format, which uses publicly available data. But social services also have the right to change their minds about the way outsiders use their content. Given that Facebook is getting ready to roll out some tweaks to its own ad platform, those changes could show up as early as tomorrow.

Demand Media Beats Expectations Slightly in Q4 Report; Buying Back More Stock; CEO: "Turbulent Year"

Kara Swisher — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:32:25 +0000

Demand Media, which has suffered from stock weakness and worries about its traffic and costs, beat Wall Street expectations in its fourth quarter earnings report, which was released after the market closed today.

The Santa Monica, Calif., online media company said it earned eight cents per share, up one cent on analysts’ estimates of seven cents. Revenue came in slightly higher too, at $84.4 million compared to an expected $81.95 million.

Still, Demand shares were down almost five percent in after-hours trading on the news, to $5.94.

Demand said that about $50 million of that came from its content businesses, while just over $31 million was due to its registrar business.

Free cash flow was up five-fold from $3.3 million to $18.3 million, which Demand said was due to cost controls and decreased spend on its flagship eHow site, which has seen changes in its content and distribution platform.

Demand also said it is going to buy back more of its stock, upping a $25 million plan to $50 million.

Said the company:

“During the fourth quarter of 2011, Demand Media repurchased 1.9 million shares of common stock for $13.3 million under its Board-authorized $25.0 million share repurchase program. To date, the Company has repurchased 2.8 million shares of common stock for $20.1 million. On February 8, 2012, Demand Media’s Board authorized an increase of $25.0 million to the program, taking its total authorized repurchases to $50.0 million.”

In a conference call with analysts after the reports, CEO Richard Rosenblatt acknowledged it was a “turbulent year,” but noted that Demand would be enhancing its properties for higher page views and more direct traffic.

He also addressed the departure of some of Demand’s founders. “All three were very important members of our team,” he said. “But it’s the natural evolution of a young company.”

If you want more deets, read all about it here in the company’s official press release:

4Q11 Results Release FINAL02.16.12

After Stock Got Whacked Last Week, Demand Media Readies Its Q4 Story for Wall Street

Kara Swisher — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:27:10 +0000

A little more than a week ago, Morgan Stanley kneecapped Demand Media’s stock by downgrading the Santa Monica, Calif., online content company’s prospects.

Some worries: Pressure from algorithm-tweaking Google, upon which Demand relies heavily for traffic; worrisome drops in said traffic due to said tweaking; and not enough uptake on higher-quality, premium stories the company had promised in the fall.

Demand shares fell 6.5 percent that day, to close at $5.93.

It has recovered a bit to $6.13 today, but is still off almost 8 percent since the beginning of the year, and 71 percent from a year ago.

One irony to the tough call by Scott Devitt, of course, was that Morgan Stanley was the investment bank that had taken Demand public in January of 2011, at $17 a share.

In addition, the recent departure of three of the company’s six founders has also worried investors.

All this will presumably be on display today when Demand reports its fourth-quarter earnings. Wall Street analysts are expecting Demand to earn seven cents a share on an adjusted basis on an expected $81.95 million in revenue.

We’ll see after the market closes, as well as what its execs have to say about the key metrics of costs and traffic.

Game On! Zynga Starts Slowly On First Day of Trading.

Tricia Duryee — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:15:08 +0000

Zynga has opened its stock-market debut at $11 a share, a small increase over its initial pricing from last night.

Late last night, the San Francisco social games company officially priced its shares at $10 apiece. It was hoping to sell up to 100 million shares at $8.50 to $10 apiece. At $10, Zynga was able to raise $1 billion in capital.

But investors aren’t going nuts for the stock. At one point this morning ZNGA shares were trading below their initial price at $9.50 a share.

That’s certainly not the kind of pop companies look for. On the bright side, perhaps the small (or non-existent) bump will make the company less likely to suffer the double-digit declines that recent Web IPOS like LinkedIn, Pandora, and Demand Media have all experienced this year.

At this price, the company is valued at $7.6 billion. That makes CEO Mark Pincus’s stake worth $1.2 billion.

NewsCred Raises $4 Million for Its Web-Based Newswire

Peter Kafka — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:00:11 +0000

Problem: You own a Web site and would like to fill it up with some nice-looking newsy content, but you don’t want to pay people like me to make it. NewsCred wants to provide the answer: It syndicates news stories from outlets like the Guardian, the Los Angeles Times and Forbes, and places them on sites around the world.

The New York-based start-up has been at this in various incarnations since 2009, but CEO Shafqat Islam says he’s getting some traction, and is able to charge Web publishers $3,000 to $5,000 a month per “vertical” for access to his (borrowed) content. He says he’ll do $1 million in revenue this year; last month, Islam raised a $4 million Series A round led by First Mark, along with Lerer Ventures, AOL Ventures and Shari Redstone’s Advancit Capital.

Content syndicators aren’t a new idea, by any means, and NewsCred’s basic pitch sounds quite similar to Mochilla, which has raised a pile of money. Several folks are trying versions of this in video, including AOL’s 5min and U.K.-based Perform Group’s ePlayer. And Demand Media has tried putting its super-low-cost freelancers to work for publishers including USA Today.

NewsCred’s basic pitch seems to be that it has a better selection of blue-chip content makers, all of which are getting guaranteed payments for their stuff. Islam pitches his product as a disruptor out to take on the likes of the Associated Press, but he also syndicates content from Reuters and Bloomberg, also giant newswires. So presumably they don’t feel threatened quite yet.

Here’s an interview I conducted with Islam earlier this week, featuring a cameo from Pat the Contractor (NewsCred is in the process of moving into its own place, after graduating from start-up launcher General Assembly).

[ See post to watch video ]

(Side note: To get a sense of how difficult it is to hammer out some of these content deals, or just get a foot in the door, see this email exchange between Islam and an executive at Dow Jones, which, like this Web site, is owned by News Corp.)

Ex-Yahoos Getting Downloaded by PE Firms and Others on Possible Deals

Kara Swisher — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:53:54 +0000

One of Yahoo’s biggest problems — brain drain — has turned out to be an asset for private equity firms and other players interested in figuring out their best moves related to the Silicon Valley Internet giant.

A plethora of ex-Yahoos, including many former top execs, are getting buttonholed by those who want to know more about the inner workings of the company that might not be obvious from its copious financial data available publicly.

That includes former Americas head Hilary Schneider, who has a longer-term consulting gig with TPG Capital, one of the several PE firms that has recently signed a non-disclosure agreement with Yahoo; former COO and President Sue Decker, who has had a longtime informal relationship with Blackstone, which has not signed the NDA and has been in talks with Yahoo’s Asian partners, China’s Alibaba Group and Japan’s SoftBank; and even former CEO Carol Bartz, who sources say has also been contacted to get her insights.

She is one of many in that regard, in a large pool of former Yahoos, such as: LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, who had run Yahoo’s media efforts; Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig, former Yahoo COO; SurveyMonkey CEO Dave Goldberg, who ran swathes of Yahoo’s entertainment properties; Criteo CEO Greg Coleman, former Yahoo sales head; former CEO Terry Semel, who is now an investor; former communications exec Brad Garlinghouse, who is now at AOL; and Demand Media Chief Revenue Officer Joanne Bradford, who also was a top Yahoo advertising exec.

Not all are cooperating with the requests for a chitchat about Yahoo, but there is much incoming interest in ex-Yahoos and what they might know.

There’s lots more where that came from, from all parts and all levels of Yahoo, given the breadth of the exes now doing very well — thank you very much — throughout the tech and media industries.

Thus, calls from PE firms, from Silver Lake to Bain Capital to Providence Equity Partners, as well as interest from major and majorly irritated shareholders, such as activist hedge fund investor Dan Loeb.

It’s a smart idea to tap this rich vein of information, as all contemplate possible multi-billion-dollar investments.

While some of these execs have not worked at Yahoo in many years, all have significant knowledge about the challenges and also the culture that cannot be gleaned from spreadsheets.

They also know a lot about the internal politics and personalities of the existing inside players, too. More importantly, several were involved in similar previous major business decisions at Yahoo.

Decker, for example, was a key exec in the Yahoo takeover attempt by Microsoft several years ago; Schneider and Bartz were deeply involved in striking the advertising and search partnership with Microsoft.

“Between everyone, it’s a good way to figure out where all the bodies are buried,” said one person close to the situation. “And there are a lot of bodies.”

Now, Breathe: Demand Media Beats Wall Street Expectation in Q3

Kara Swisher — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:43:53 +0000

Demand Media beat Wall Street expectations in the third quarter, posting a loss of five cents a share. Investors had expected it to lose from four to six cents.

Revenue was up 25 percent to $85.1 million, compared to $65.4 million in the same period a year ago. Minus traffic acquisition costs, sales increased 26 percent to $78.1 million from $62.2 million.

The stock of the Santa Monica, Calif., social content company has suffered in the quarter due to worries about its traffic and growth, but it has recently bounced back after hitting all-time lows.

After losing almost nine percent today, in profit-taking ahead of earnings after a recent price surge, Demand shares rose over 17 percent in after-hours trading to $8.30.

Some more details, according to a Demand statement on the Q3 financial results:

Content & Media Revenue increased 27% to $50.7 million, compared with $39.8 million in Q310.

Traffic acquisition costs (TAC), which represent the portion of Content & Media revenue shared with Demand Media partners, of $3.4 million, or 6.7% of Content & Media revenue, compared with $3.2 million, or 7.9% of Content & Media revenue, in Q310.

Content & Media Revenue ex-TAC grew 29% to $47.4 million, from $36.7 million in Q310.

Registrar Revenue increased 20% to $30.7 million compared with $25.5 million in Q310.

In addition to its more high-profile content business, Demand also has a domain registry unit.

“We reported another strong quarter as we continue to build Demand Media’s foundation for long-term growth,” said Richard Rosenblatt, Chairman and CEO of Demand Media in the statement. “The Company is uniquely positioned to deliver data-driven professional content through its robust content publishing platform. We are now in the process of optimizing that platform while increasing our investment in video content and enhancing the quality, engagement and user experience of our sites.”

There will be a conference call at 2 pm PT today, which I will liveblog (as long as it is lively!).

Until then, enjoy the official Q3 earnings press release:

3Q11 Earnings ReleaseFINAL

What Answers Will Investors Be Demand-ing in the Q3 Call Today?

Kara Swisher — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:13:09 +0000

Just last week, it seemed as if the dangerous riptide had finally turned for Demand Media, the social content company whose stock for the quarter bottomed out in mid-October, in the $5-a-share range.

It has now rebounded to close Friday at $7.76, with a market valuation of just over $651 million — still a far cry from a high of over $27 a share in the last year, but well below the target price of upward of $14 from Wall Street analysts.

That’s why there will be plenty of questions for CEO Richard Rosenblatt in a conference call scheduled for after the Santa Monica, Calif.-based Demand reports its third-quarter earnings, following the close of markets this afternoon.

Analysts are expecting Demand to lose four to six cents a share. Revenue is expected to be up.

One issue sure to be on the docket will be the traffic problems at its flagship eHow site, which stymied Demand in the quarter. The situation caused it to release a statement about the issue, “which the Company believes is temporary and was the result of an internal technical issue. The technical issue has recently been remediated.”

Assume you will hear more on that and other topics, including updates on the cost of its content and the continued impact on Demand of search-algorithm changes at Google, as well as how it is faring in attracting more lucrative advertising.

I will be covering the earnings and the analyst call, so tune in later today for answers.

YouTube and Hollywood Finally Link Up: Here Come the Channels

Peter Kafka — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 01:00:23 +0000

YouTube and Hollywood, which have been circling each other for years, are finally getting together.

But instead of moving movies and TV shows to the world’s biggest Web site, they’re trying something different: Google is handing out more than $100 million to dozens of partners to create new “channels.”

The idea is to make “professional” content that advertisers will pay a premium to be near, instead of the grab bag of videos that dominate the site and that often sell at very low prices.

This isn’t news, of course: YouTube reps have been holding meetings and auditions for most of the year, led by former Netflix executive Robert Kyncl. And we’ve known about the deal terms, and many of the partners, for some time.

But now the site is finally talking about them publicly and promising that it will start unveiling some of the new programming next month. Some of the channels — each of which will have a couple hours of original programming per week — will feature people you’ve heard of, like Madonna, Jay-Z, Ashton Kutcher and “Modern Family” star Sofia Vergara.

But the channels aren’t all premised around the idea of celebrities and Hollywood per se — just the idea that someone with some idea of how to make good stuff will start making stuff specifically for the site.

For instance, BedRocket Properties, the video start-up backed by the Huffington Post’s Ken Lerer and run by cable TV veteran Brian Bedol, will do four channels, including a soccer-themed channel in conjunction with Major League Soccer, and an action sports channel produced along with Wasserman Media Group.

Another example: IGN, the videogame Web site being spun off by News Corp., will produce a game-themed channel along with the Shine Group, the TV production house recently purchased by News Corp. (News Corp. also owns this Web site).

It’s worth noting that some of the channels will be run by people who are well-versed in creating Web video — and video for YouTube in particular. Machinima, for instance, which also specializes in game-themed stuff, is already one of YouTube’s most prolific partners, and essentially runs a network within YouTube’s network.

Maker Studios, which is producing three channels, is another outfit that already specializes in YouTube. And Demand Media went public this year, in part because it had figured out the art of cranking out Web videos very, very, quickly, at very, very low prices.

YouTube may not be releasing all of the channels and partners today, perhaps because it doesn’t actually have all of its deals signed yet. And at least one partner told me that some of the mechanics of the deals, like control of ad sales, had yet to be worked out.

That’s hard to imagine, given the amount of time that YouTube has been at this. But it’s also hard to imagine why you’d announce a big consumer-focused deal at the end of a Friday. So, who knows.

We do know the general outlines of the deals, though: Google will advance most of the creators up to $5 million, and in return will get commitments to produce a couple hours of programming a week for the channel. Once the programmers have earned back their advance from YouTube, they’ll split ad revenue with the site. The programming will be exclusive to YouTube for at least the first year of the three-year deals.

What we don’t know is how this stuff will actually work: $5 million won’t go very far if the partners use traditional TV and film budgets, so many of the partners are going to have to supplement that money with investments of their own — and they’re going to have to work on a tighter budget. And just because there’s a bit of Hollywood shine associated with this stuff doesn’t mean that people will actually watch — or, most crucially, that advertisers will pay up.

Google may also try other methods to get high-end video stuff. The company made a stab at Hulu when that video site was on the block. And it has indicated that it’s interested in licensing some content in international markets, where it thinks it can get more bang for its buck.

Bill Gross's New Social Network Chime.in Will Pay People to Use It

Liz Gannes — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:20:25 +0000

Serial entrepreneur Bill Gross’s latest effort is called Chime.in, a social platform for writing about and discussing common interests. What makes it different from other social network and social news sites is that Chime.in wants to pay people for their contributions.

Gross, who helped create search advertising at GoTo in the late ’90s, has been trying to recreate that magic on the social Web for the past couple of years with the company that’s now named UberMedia. But various products like syndication, monetization and new Twitter clients have all been too close for comfort to Twitter’s own agenda, and Gross has had to twice rename and more times reformulate his business.

Chime.in, which is a division of UberMedia, plans to sell ads on behalf of users’ posts, giving them 50 percent of the revenue, or will allow them to sell their own ads and keep all the revenue.

“I never thought there would be an opportunity as big as keywords,” Gross said in an interview last week. “But social signals are so much stronger than search terms.”

Brands such as E! Entertainment, Universal Pictures, Bravo TV and Disney have agreed to contribute Chime.in pages. All content on the service is public and users aren’t required to use their real names, though they are encouraged to connect to their Facebook and Twitter accounts. The main interface is a personalized social newsfeed of the latest and most popular posts called a “Chimeline.”

Gross planned to debut Chime.in tomorrow at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, but the iPhone app accidentally launched early, so people are already taking a look. He said the company — which has also built a Web site and Android and BlackBerry apps — is now scrambling to launch today.

Paying for participation in online communities hasn’t historically worked very well. I asked Gross why he thought Chime.in would be any different.

“The biggest example of success is blogs and Google AdSense and Federated Media,” Gross said — where bloggers build up their own audience and then layer on advertising. “Why it hasn’t expanded to communities is because anyone who has tried to build a standalone place missed the social sharing element, so they had to play the SEO game and that doesn’t work.”

Gross argued that the Chime.in community will police itself against gamers and crappy content — the kind of stuff that’s plagued sites like Digg and content farms like Demand Media — because users won’t recommend Chimes they don’t like.

“The breakthrough that’s happened is if you let people have the flexibility to share, they’ll get the message to the right people and do the dirty work for you,” Gross said.

Boo! Citing Spooky Economy, Citi Cuts Targets for Google, AOL, Demand Media.

Peter Kafka — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:33:15 +0000

October 2011 feels a lot like October 2008, and a bet that tech stocks might get beat up a bit in the near future doesn’t seem crazy. So Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney is pulling back on his price targets for a bunch — but not all — of the companies he covers: He’s shaving Akamai, AOL, Demand Media, Google, Monster Worldwide, Orbitz Worldwide and WebMD.

Note that Mahaney isn’t changing his estimates for these companies’ financial performance — just the way he thinks the market will value them, “primarily to global Macro conditions.”

Still, it’s worth noting some of his specific concerns for some companies that go beyond “the world economy has the circle-the-drain-quality to it.”

AOL: Citi drops its target from $18 to $15 (it’s now trading around $12). “In Q2, we witnessed YHOO, WBMD and AOL report lower Display revenue, which could be signs of increased competition from ad networks and social media for premium ad dollars.”

Demand: Target dropped from $10 to $8, which is about where the stock is trading now. “We view the company’s reliance on Google traffic as still a bit of an overhang. And we believe DMD’s quality content strategy is still something of a work-in-progress.”

Google: Target dropped from $690 to $575, currently trading around $504. “The return on GOOG’s prior investments (Mobile, Display) have been very good, but the return on GOOG’s new investments (Social, Commerce, Local, and now, in a BIG way, Mobile) are still uncertain — and the social investments ARE catch-up defensive; 2) cost structure still not ‘under control’; and 3) increasing regulatory risk.”

My Picks for Yahoo's Next CEO -- Maybe Snoop Dogg, Ya Digg?

Kara Swisher — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:00:32 +0000

The firing of Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz leaves open one of the bigger and more difficult jobs in tech — one that has taken its toll on many.

Nonetheless, rapper Snoop Dogg stepped right up to the Twitter plate yesterday, as soon as news broke of the ouster.

Tweeted Snoop Dogg:

“Im takn over as tha CEO of Yahoo. Need sum of tha Snoop Dogg content ya digg. Nuff Said.”

Not nearly nuff!

Thus, while the Yahoo board has yet to begin a search, I have already been hard at work on selecting the next CEO.

(Last time, the company took none of my suggestions, but after the most recent result, the directors might want to pay mind!)

Sources said Yahoo is looking for an experienced Internet type, either from inside or outside the company.

“Yahoo has put its flag in the ground as a digital media company with a technology base,” said one source. “The job requires big buckets of expertise and needs someone who will grow the company.”

Here I go with the outsiders:

Peter Chernin: The former News Corp. exec has been eyeing Yahoo for a possible takeover with other investors. Both Yahoo and I had picked him when co-founder Jerry Yang stepped down as CEO almost three years ago, and he had declined the offer. This time, perhaps a big chunk of the company and total autonomy would work, even if making a hit like “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is more fun.

Sheryl Sandberg: The COO of Facebook is sort of the anti-Bartz, with a smooth and efficient persona, and she is an experienced tech exec. But the former Google exec is at a place of growth at the social networking site, and is unlikely to want to leave the big show, especially since a blockbuster IPO is looming.

Jason Kilar: The Hulu CEO is in the midst of the process of selling the premium video service, with Yahoo as a bidder. While he has some tense relations with the studios, Kilar is top notch in his dedication to consumer products, and has a lot of experience from his stint at Amazon, too.

Dan Rosensweig: Currently CEO of IPO-headed Chegg textbook rental service, the former Yahoo exec never got a chance to run the company as its top leader. Well-connected and still well-liked by the troops at Yahoo, it still would be pretty hard for him to go home again.

Dave Goldberg: Sure, he’s married to Sandberg (see above), but the savvy CEO of polling phenom SurveyMonkey is one of the sharpest thinkers in Silicon Valley. He sold his music company to Yahoo many years ago and has a strong background in consumer online services.

Jon Miller: The chief digital exec at News Corp. almost got the CEO spot years ago when Carl Icahn was agitating for change at Yahoo, before Time Warner blocked him via a noncompete. With the mishegas at the media giant, and dwindling digital businesses there, it might be a good escape hatch for Miller.

Susan Wojcicki: The accomplished Google exec, who runs all its ad products, has the kind of calm, cool, collected persona that Yahoo could use right about now. The search giant was founded in her garage, and she has been a key part of its success since then. Wojcicki is also an understated class act in hey-look-at-me Silicon Valley.

Todd Bradley: The Hewlett-Packard exec just got blindsided when the company kicked webOS to the curb. While he is in line to run a possible spinoff of the device business, Bradley might also want to jump out of the frying pan into the fire.

Mike McCue: The CEO of Flipboard would certainly energize Yahoo with his intense focus on quality and consumer delight. The news app start-up could be a good addition to Yahoo, and McCue, the former Netscape and Microsoft exec who is well-liked in the Internet scene, would be, too.

Joanne Bradford: The former Yahoo advertising head bolted Bartz’s regime early on to run revenue for Demand Media. Well-liked in the ad business, she also knows where all the bodies are buried at Yahoo. Since ads and media are key at the company, she’d make an interesting choice.

Yusuf Mehdi: The Microsoft online exec would also be a left-field candidate to run Yahoo, given his even-keeled personality and longtime experience in the sector. And, though pricey, Mehdi’s impact on Bing search has been important. But he’s also been involved in the software giant’s lackluster ad and search partnership and still has not turned around the situation at MSN.

Kevin Johnson: The former Microsoft exec and current CEO of Juniper was once slated to be the CEO of Yahoo, had Microsoft managed to win the company in its hostile takeover attempt. In fact, Johnson was the architect of the idea of Yahoo running the media and Microsoft running the tech.

Tim Armstrong: Well, he might have been a good candidate before the downward slide of AOL and a recent series of questionable judgments. If Armstrong can’t keep a loud tech blogger in line, it’s not clear he can wrangle the Yahoo beast.

And here’s the insider scoop:

Ross Levinsohn: The former News Corp. exec is running the Americas for Yahoo, which puts him in charge of the company’s key businesses. But he’s still struggling to turn the ad business around, and how well he does that could be a major determinant of his success. But fantastic hair!

Blake Irving: The former Microsoft exec has an amiable nature and is well-liked at Yahoo, but he still needs to show that the company can ship some innovative products, and quickly. Like Livestand, the news reader, which is muchly late.

David Kenny: The Yahoo board member is now president of Akamai, which might preclude him from the job. But the well-regarded exec — he’s a snazzy dresser, too — ran one of the Internet’s top digital ad agencies and now has tech chops from the content delivery network.

Memo to Yahoo board: I have a million more ideas, from former Viacom exec Tom Freston to former Yahoo board member Eric Hippeau. Or why not bring back a passel of former Yahoos to advise, such as former CEO Terry Semel or former president Sue Decker?

Or Oprah! I hear Winfrey will be in Silicon Valley later this week, and she has a lot more free time now.

Like Snoop Dogg, she would fo shizzle be the bomb to cover.

Brightcove's Old-School IPO

Peter Kafka — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 15:07:59 +0000

Yes, Brightcove is a money-losing Web company trying to go public, just like several other Web companies this year.

But compared to some of its peers, Brightcove is almost a throwback: CEO Jeremy Allaire’s company has a clearly defined business, straightforward accounting and a minimum of insider selling in the run-up to its IPO.

A quick glance at the the company’s filing will tell you that:

Brightcove’s business is easy to understand. It generates sales by helping Web publishers put video online. That “software as a service” model has let the company boost sales, along with the Web video boom. In 2006, it posted revenues of $1.4 million. Last year, it pulled in $43.7 million.

The company’s accounting doesn’t require a good imagination. There’s nothing in Brightcove’s S-1 along the lines of Groupon’s now-discarded “ACSOI,” or Demand Media’s novel approach to expensing content costs. And while plenty of established companies use not-strictly-official measures like EBITDA to show off their finances in the best possible light, Brightcove doesn’t bother — there’s not a single reference to “non-GAAP accounting.” Which makes it quite easy to see that the company lost $67.5 million from 2006 through 2010, and another $9.5 million in the first half of this year. It says it doesn’t expect to turn a profit until 2013 at the earliest.

Brightcove’s investors and employees are sticking around. Unlike Groupon, Zynga, and a few other highfliers that haven’t filed yet, including Twitter and Facebook, there’s been very little insider selling. Early investor AOL got rid of all of its shares last November, and last year Allaire sold off 1.3 million shares for a gain of $4.8 million; some other employees sold a few more shares. But Allaire still holds another 2.5 million shares — 4.5 percent of the company’s equity — and as far as I can tell, that’s about it for insider selling.

Demand Media's RSS Graffiti Buy Is Good News for a Demand Media Executive

Peter Kafka — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 18:00:16 +0000

Demand Media’s recent purchase of technology company RSS Graffiti is good news for Michael Blend, who owned 40 percent of the start-up. But the deal doesn’t mean Blend will quit his day job — working as a Demand Media executive.

Demand explained the relationship between Blend, its executive vice president for special projects, and its recent acquisition, in an SEC filing today. It also disclosed the sales price: $16.4 million, primarily in cash. The company announced earlier this week that it had also paid $14 million for ad-rep firm IndieClick.

Demand says it bought RSS Graffiti because of a content sharing application it had built for Facebook, and said the deal would “enhance the Company’s social media service offering.” Earlier this year, Demand had struck a deal with RSS Graffiti to “develop a data warehouse and analytics platform.”

This isn’t the first time Demand has purchased one of Blend’s companies. His corporate bio notes that he ended up at Demand in 2006, after the company bought Hotkeys, a start-up he founded and ran. That deal earned Blend two million shares of restricted stock, among other benefits.

Does AOL's Huge Stock Decline Make It a Bargain Acquisition Target?

Kara Swisher — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:12:45 +0000

In the last month, the stock of AOL has declined just over 50 percent.

But that drop is not just due to the turbulent markets of late. AOL stock had a 50 percent drop over the last six months, a 57 percent decline since the beginning of the year, and a 56 percent plunge since it went public in late 2009.

Which is why some in the industry — at private equity firms and bigger companies — have noted to me that the price of AOL might have gotten low enough for a very cheap takeover.

“You have to look, even with all the problems they have been struggling to fix,” said one person, who also underscored the advertising and other challenges that AOL faces. “But it is so inexpensive, it’s also an interesting idea.”

Said another large investor: “It’s almost free, given its cash on hand.”

Indeed, since in its recent second-quarter earnings report, AOL said that, as of June 30, it has $458.7 million in cash.

That matters, since at $10.22 a share — a far cry from its $28.45 high of all time in late April of 2010 — the market valuation of the New York-based Internet giant is only $1.09 billion.

You do the math.

To give that number perspective, AOL paid out $315 million in cash to buy the Huffington Post in the beginning of this year. And, let us not forget, under different management, AOL forked over $850 million in cash to buy the Bebo social network in 2008, and sold it for a song last year.

Even AOL thinks the price is low, announcing a $250 million stock buyback program this morning, just as shares hit their lowest point ever yesterday.

The stock is up today, though still in the basement.

To be fair, comparable companies’ valuations have also taken a hit recently. Yahoo shares are down 29 percent since the beginning of the year, giving it an affordable $15.3 billion valuation; and Demand Media’s stock has dropped 63 percent in that period, making its current price tag only $703 million.

Calling all shoppers?

Demand Media Q2 Call Liveblog: Spam-a-Not

Kara Swisher — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 21:20:00 +0000

Today, Demand Media beat Wall Street expectations in its second-quarter earning, growing revenue and lessening losses.

The Santa Monica, Calif., online content maker also announced that it had re-upped and expanded its advertising partnership with Google and also bought two start-ups in social media and advertising.

Now, it’s time for the inevitable conference call to explain it all to Wall Street analysts and the media.

2:02 pm PT: The call starts off with an unusually jaunty CEO Richard Rosenblatt, who quickly got to the real deal: Exactly how badly did Google’s changes to its search algorithm, under a program code-named Panda, hurt Demand’s content business?

Not much, says Rosenblatt, who reels off a list of things the company has done to improve its offerings, which have been dinged by many as, well, spam.

Rosenblatt was not having any of that, talking about removing 300,000 pieces of crappy content and also “quality improvements” with partners such as cheerily demented cooking goddess Rachael Ray. She might cook with spam — here is a delightful Spam Hawaiian recipe — but she ain’t spam!

2:13 pm: Now it is on to the acquisition of IndieClick. Essentially: It’s for the young people.

Then, international. Latin America Demand editorial via eHow en español! (Actually, the acquisition of Emergincast.com, an Argentine start-up. Coming soon to a blog site near you: ¿Cómo se hierve el agua?

Last, social media. Demand will be doing a lot more of it, like everyone else in the world, including more recommendations. I would really like it if some Internet company said it was going anti-social.

2:18 pm: The finance guy comes on, covering everything already in the press releases. Which is why I am cutting out here and getting a gluten-free doughnut at the Whole Foods store where I am writing this post.

It is as delicious as you might imagine a gluten-free doughnut can be. Which is to say: Not very!

2:32 pm: Q&A time from the Wall Street dudes — and, let it be said, they are all dudes.

The first question is about the “cleansing” of its cruddy content and if it is all flushed out.

It might be baked-on sludge, but Rosenblatt assures that Demand has it all figured out.

Then, a query about international and how the company decides what to pick. Algo, of course! And local content writers.

Back to the spam content: Does the need to have better content mean less of it? Kind of, since there is a lot more video. But still a lot of content churning out of Demand!

A question about Facebook and how to program Demand content into it. Good lord, it’s hyper-poking!

“It’s not clear the best way of how you expand into all these properties,” said Rosenblatt, specifically referring to its acquisition today of both IndieClick and RSS Graffiti.

The next question is how successful Demand is in the display and brand business, and how IndieClick, a premium ad company aimed at niche blogs, will be integrated in.

More on social media advertising’s future. Aaaghh, this is as obvious as a store-bought-crust apple pie baked by Rachael Ray.

Rosenblatt notes that its flagship site, eHow, is but one means of distribution, but Demand content is going all over the place and winging by people when they least expect it.

“Social is more effective … to try to find stuff you didn’t know that you needed,” says Rosenblatt, who also would not dis search as a means of discovery.

That’s important, since Google is a major traffic driver and advertising partner, when it is not terrorizing Demand and others with its search algo version of Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor Snape.

And presto, here comes a question about Demand’s Google ad relationship, which Rosenblatt touts nicely.

Of course he does. It’s tastier than spam, after all.

Demand Media Beats Wall Street Expectations for Q2, Acquires Two Start-Ups and Re-Ups with Google

Kara Swisher — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 20:34:00 +0000

Demand Media, the Santa Monica, Calif., online content company, said its revenue increased 32 percent in the second quarter, as it reduced its net loss significantly.

Demand also said it had acquired Los Angeles-based IndieClick, a premium online advertising company and RSS Graffiti, a social media company.

The company also said that it struck a three-year “renewal and expansion of its ongoing advertising partnership with Google to monetize Demand Media’s owned and operated properties and premium content inventory.”

Revenues rose to $79.5 million in the quarter compared to $60.4 million a year ago. Analysts had expected $73.9 million.

Net loss per share on a GAAP basis was three cents, or $2.4 million, compared with a 75 cent loss, or $1.9 million, in the same period last year.

On a non-GAAP basis, which Demand’s investors also take into consideration, revenue minus traffic acquisition costs increased 34 percent to $76.6 million from $57.3 million last year.

Adjusted net income per share, diluted of six cents, grew 50 percent, compared with four cents a year ago.

About IndieClick, which Demand said would help monetize its audience on the Cracked humor site, the company noted in a press release:

“IndieClick represents a curated portfolio of important online destinations in the comedy/humor, entertainment, film, music, lifestyle, and fashion categories that are especially relevant to enthusiasts, with a focus on the 18-34 year-old demographic.”

As for re-upping its longtime advertising deal with Google, Demand said that it would extend its display advertising and premium ad serving arrangements and that its properties “will be included in premium, brand-safe channels within Google Display Network Reserve.”

I will be liveblogging Demand’s earnings at 2 pm PT.

Until then, please peruse all the various press releases from Demand:

2Q11 Results Release FINAL 08 09 11 –

Goog_DMD Release_FINAL 8 9 2011 –

IndieClick Release_FINAL2 – 8 9 2011 –

DM_Acquires_RSS_Graffiti – final clean _2_ –

Wall Street's Demand for Demand Media Falls Off

Kara Swisher — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:01:06 +0000

After the markets close tomorrow, Demand Media will report its second-quarter earnings.

Wall Street is expecting a solid performance from the Santa Monica, Calif.-based online content maker compared to last year.

The consensus of estimates by analysts is for Demand to lose one cent a share, which is much smaller than the 55 cents a share loss from the same period a year ago. It is also an improvement on a previous loss of five cents a share for this quarter that investors had been predicting.

Nonetheless, the company’s stock hit its all-time low yesterday, after a strong IPO in January. Since the summer, it’s been all downhill, with Demand shares off 50.4 percent since early May.

Since it went public, the stock is off 63.1 percent.

Is There a Myspace Mafia, Too? Because Leaving Seems to Have Paid Off for Many Ex-Execs.

Kara Swisher — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 18:28:02 +0000

When the selling of Myspace winds down in the next week or so, it’ll probably attract a spate of comments about what a failure the whole social networking enterprise turned out to be.

And — especially when you recall what a Web phenom the social networking site was before it got blown out of the water by Facebook — it was.

That is, unless you think of the mob of former execs who have worked at the company over time, many of whom have moved on to some more golden opportunities after leaving the News Corp.-owned property.

That includes, most recently and notably, former sales head Michael Barrett, who is about to score big as CEO of AdMeld, which is reportedly in the process of selling to Google for $400 million.

Also a big winner: Former Myspace CEO Owen Van Natta, who was fired from that job in one of its many putsches and who quickly rebounded to a top job at online gaming powerhouse Zynga.

So, while it is one of the more overused memes of Silicon Valley, the “mafia” analogy — which has been applied to fertile entrepreneurial breeding grounds such as PayPal, before its acquisition by eBay — is useful when thinking about Myspace.

It is also a good thing to keep in mind about any tech company that goes off the rails: There might still be a silver lining, even if the start-up never sees the light of day again.

As proof, herein is a list I created after pinging a bunch of former Myspace folks:

Jason Oberfest: Former SVP of business development. Now, VP Ngmoco, which was sold to Japanese gaming giant DeNA for $400 million last year.

Dmitry Shapiro: Former CTO, Myspace Music. Now, at Facebook competitor Altly.

Adam Bain: While at Fox Interactive Media, he ran the ad platform for Myspace. Now, head of sales at Twitter.

Jeff Berman: Former president of sales and marketing. Now, GM of the NFL’s digital media unit.

Jason Hirschhorn: Former co-president and chief product officer. Now, on MGM board, angel investor, and there are rumors of him working on a curation start-up.

Amit Kapur: Former COO. Now, CEO, Gravity, an information filtering service start-up.

Chris DeWolfe: Co-founder and former CEO. Now, CEO, MindJolt, an online gaming roll-up.

Ross Levinsohn: Former president of FIM, he was integral to buying Myspace. Now, EVP of Americas unit, Yahoo.

Mike Lang: Former News Corp. strategy exec also involved in Myspace purchase. Now, CEO, Miramax.

Aber Whitcomb: Former CTO. Now CTO, MindJolt.

Jim Heckman: Former chief strategy officer of FIM. Now, CEO of 5to1, recently sold to Yahoo for $25 million.

Dani Dudeck: Former communications head. Now, PR head at Zynga.

Travis Katz: SVP of international. Now, CEO of Gogobot, a social travel start-up.

Richard Rosenblatt: Former CEO of Intermix Media and Chairman of Myspace, he sold it to News Corp. Now, CEO of Demand Media.

Angela Courtin: Former SVP of marketing. Now, EVP at Aegis Media.

These folks should be on the call list of whoever ends up buying Myspace. Last week, I wrote that an investor group, including Activision head Bobby Kotick, is now in the lead for the deal.

As an update, according to sources, Kotick has gotten clearance from Activision’s major shareholder Vivendi to do the Myspace transaction as a passive personal investment.