IRS

Yahoo Starts Making Wish List, as Asian Deal Huffs to Finish Line and Board Changes Readied

Kara Swisher in News on February 6 at 5:45 am PT

Here’s a big, honking update on the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s various machinations for you!

CEO: SecondMarket Is a Return to Old-Fashioned Investing

Liz Gannes in Social on November 9, 2010 at 5:01 am PT

Today’s stock markets have “a casino-type mentality” driven by factors like the rise of automated trading and shorter-term average holding periods. People don’t take the time to do research and really get to know a company before they invest in it, in the opinion of SecondMarket founder and CEO Barry Silbert. He thinks SecondMarket–best known for its facilitation of trading of private tech company stock–is a way to bring back a human touch. SecondMarket doesn’t necessarily replace an IPO. But for companies like Facebook, LinkedIn and eSolar, SecondMarket trading slots into a pre-IPO dead zone driven by the longer average time to a public offering–now something like 8.8 years.

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RealNetworks Q3 Revs Miss; Profits Beat On Large Tax Refund

Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily in News on November 4, 2010 at 3:45 pm PT

RealNetworks this afternoon reported Q3 revenue of $86.4 million, down three percent sequentially, off 38 percent year-over-year, and below the Street consensus at $88 million. But the company posted a profit for the quarter of $24.5 million or 18 cents a share largely due to a $33.9 million tax benefit, including a $30 million refund from the IRS.

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Users Rate Facebook Slightly Above the Tax Man

Geoffrey A. Fowler, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on July 20, 2010 at 8:00 am PT

Facebook plans to announce it has reached a milestone 500 million users this week — but that doesn’t mean the masses are happy customers. The American Customer Satisfaction Index, developed by the University of Michigan’s Business School, included Facebook in its regular survey of consumer satisfaction with companies.

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After Tax Day, Intuit Does Its Own Accounting

Ben Worthen, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on April 20, 2010 at 12:04 am PT

Intuit this tax season distributed 10 percent more units of its popular TurboTax software than last year, the company said Monday. Key to that success: giving it away for free.

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Start-Up Hopes to Stop Phishing With Certified Email

Ben Worthen, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on April 13, 2010 at 5:00 am PT

The number and sophistication of phishing attacks–scam emails that appear to be from the IRS or a Nigerian prince–has made it difficult for banks and other businesses to use email to communicate with customers.

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YouTube Tax Tips From the IRS

Mary Pilon, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on August 27, 2009 at 10:15 am PT

Taxpayers looking for advice might be only a YouTube clip away. The Internal Revenue Service recently unveiled their YouTube channel, irsvideos. The 12 videos have information about claiming recovery rebate credits and other tax tips. “It’s another way for us to get information out to taxpayers,” says Terry Lemons, a spokesperson for the IRS.

MySpace Finishes Its AcqHire of iLike: Don’t Think Music, Think “Socialization of Content.” Plus! The Internal Memo.

Peter Kafka in Media on August 19, 2009 at 1:19 pm PT

Now that MySpace has finished its acquisition of iLike, what is it going to do with it? Don’t think music, MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta stressed in a press conference today, think about “socialization of content.” What does that mean? It means the social network has spent $19.5 million on engineering talent to help overhaul its site.

Sale of iLike to MySpace–$13.5 Million in Cash, $6 Million for Talent Retention–Delayed Over Tax Issues (Really!)…Plus, the List of Other Suitors!

Kara Swisher in News on August 17, 2009 at 11:25 pm PT

The board of iLike planned a meeting earlier tonight to go over a buyout offer by MySpace, several sources close to the situation said. But it was suddenly canceled because of some thorny tax implications related to the talent-retention part of the deal to purchase the social music start-up. This does not mean the pending acquisition is in jeopardy, sources said, and it could be on track to be signed as early as today, barring any more complications. What’s also been unclear is the actual price the social networking giant is paying for iLike, which has been reported as about $20 million. In fact, only $13.5 million will be paid in cash, with $6 million slated for forward payments to retain key talent.