investors

After Strong Quarter, Groupon Starts Looking Like a Deal Again

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on May 15 at 1:29 pm PT

Even though Groupon continues to carry the warning that its financial processes are weak, a handful of analysts upgraded the company to a buy rating today, and investors sent the stock climbing.

Voices

How Facebook Could Trip Up Investors

Ben Levisohn, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on May 11 at 12:23 pm PT

As social-networking giant Facebook prepares to sell stock to the public for the first time, money managers are mobbing investor roadshows and deluging the deal’s underwriters with requests for as many shares as they can get their hands on. Ordinary investors, however, would be better off waiting until some of the buzz dies down, experts say.

News Byte

Frenzoo Raises $1 Million to Fund “Me Girl” Mobile Games

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on May 10 at 5:00 am PT

Frenzoo, which is building a series of mobile games targeting women, has raised $1 million in seed funding. Participating investors include Efficient Corporate, Siemer Ventures, K5 Ventures and Metaverse Services. Based in Hong Kong and San Francisco, the company said it will use the funding to launch a series of fashion- and lifestyle-based games under the brand “Me Girl.”

Investors Cut Another Slice out of Apple

John Paczkowski in News on April 20 at 1:56 pm PT

Another down day for Apple shares.

Groupon’s Shares Continue Falling to Close at All-Time Low

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on April 4 at 4:26 pm PT

Shares are now half-off, but no one seems to be buying.

L.A. Stories: Mike Jones and Peter Pham Talk About the Science of Tech Studios (Video)

Kara Swisher in News on April 4 at 1:27 pm PT

Down in SoCal, there is some serious start-up experimentation going on.

News Byte

Canadian Investors Bet $20 Million on Hootsuite

Peter Kafka in Media on March 29 at 12:01 am PT

Investors are putting $20 million into Hootsuite, the social media management platform. Canadian fund OMERS Ventures has acquired the stake in the four-year-old company via secondary purchases from employees and earlier investors. Hootsuite, which lets marketers track and manage their presence on social platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Google+, says it has “nearly four million” users; it has previously raised $4.9 million in debt and equity.

Apple Unveils Cash Plan Monday Morning

Peter Kafka in News on March 18 at 3:27 pm PT

Apple has around $100 billion in cash sitting on its books. A toga party is out, says Tim Cook. So what on earth will it do with it?

Voices

Harbinger Investors Sue Over LightSquared

Greg Bensinger, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in Mobile on February 17 at 3:55 pm PT

Investors in Philip Falcone’s Harbinger Capital Partners sued the fund and Mr. Falcone on Friday, saying the “all in” investment in wireless startup LightSquared Inc. squandered billions of dollars.

What Happened to the Future?

To many investors, visionary entrepreneurs come off as naïve or worse — isn’t it safer/easier/more profitable to create a(nother) social network for cat fanciers than to try to cure cancer, defeat terrorism, or organize the world’s information?

– Bruce Gibney, in a post on the Founders Fund Web site entitled “What Happened to the Future?”