hi5

Live Gamer Makes Two Acquisitions to Expand From Virtual Goods Platform to Ad Network

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on July 19, 2011 at 4:30 am PT

Live Gamer has been building a platform to monetize games through virtual goods. Now it has acquired two ad-based companies to expand into freemium-based models.

Spil Games, GSN Dominate As Most-Popular Online Game Sites, But Guess Who Ranks No. 6?

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on April 20, 2011 at 6:00 pm PT

What are the largest online game properties in the world? The list may surprise you.

Fed Up With Facebook? Hi5 Tells Social Game Developers There's an Alternative.

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on February 28, 2011 at 12:07 pm PT

The spotlight at the 2011 Game Developers Conference this week in San Francisco will be social networking, as Facebook has become an undeniable powerhouse in the industry–and a considerable force to reckon with. In advance, we caught up with Alex St. John of Hi5, who has come up with an alternative he calls the “anti-social networking platform.”

Yahoo Snags Citizen Sports

John Paczkowski in Mobile on March 17, 2010 at 10:39 am PT

BoomTown was right. Yahoo is indeed buying online sports site Citizen Sports, a developer of sports-related apps and games for Apple’s iPhone and for social networking sites like Facebook. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but as BoomTown noted on Monday, estimates put Citizen’s selling price at about $40 to $50 million.

Kara Visits iLike in Seattle!

Kara Swisher in News on July 23, 2008 at 2:39 pm PT

On my recent trip to Seattle, I visited the offices of iLike, in the Capitol Hill section of that lovely Pacific Northwest city, to take a video gander at one of the more interesting start ups to emerge from the social networking arena. The music discovery site, unlike a lot of others in its sector, has been plugging away for several years with much less funding (about $16 million from the founding Partovi twin brothers, former AOL wunderkind Bob Pittman and a big slug from Ticket Master), but a lot more impact.

Games People Play: Social Gaming Network's Shervin Pishevar Speaks!

Kara Swisher in News on May 13, 2008 at 10:30 am PT

Today, in yet another episode of the Web 2.0 lottery, Social Gaming Network grabbed $15 million in funding for its widgety gaming apps that are popular on Facebook and other social networking sites. The round, led by Greylock Partners, Founders Fund, Columbia Partners and Novak Biddle Venture Partners, will go toward expanding its offerings, which include the popular Warbook, and also its network for other developers to create and publish online games on.