M&A

News Byte

Zynga General Manager Nabeel Hyatt Joins Spark as Venture Partner

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on February 9 at 10:46 am PT

Nabeel Hyatt, the founder of Zynga’s Boston office, which led the development of Adventure World, has joined Spark Capital as a venture partner. Hyatt joined Zynga a little less than two years ago through the acquisition of Conduit Labs, where he was CEO and founder. Hyatt will help Spark’s investments with product design, and consult on consumer Web, social and mobile projects.

Behind the Scenes at Groupon’s Tech Headquarters as It Prepares to Report First Public Earnings

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on February 8 at 6:00 am PT

Groupon is slowly building out its technology prowess in Palo Alto, Calif., 2,000 miles away from its headquarters — one acquisition at a time.

Amazon’s Stake in LivingSocial Reveals Steep Losses for the Groupon Competitor

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on February 1 at 9:42 am PT

LivingSocial’s financial results for the past year were reported by Amazon today, revealing that the company continues to trail behind Groupon by a wide margin.

Google’s Head of Consumer Payments, Vikas Gupta, Resigns

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 26 at 5:35 pm PT

Vikas Gupta joined Google 18 months ago after it acquired Jambool, the virtual goods payment platform where he was a founder and CEO.

Groupon Acquires Mertado for Its Social Commerce Expertise

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 20 at 4:51 pm PT

Groupon has acquired its second start-up in the social commerce space over the past month.

eBay’s John Donahoe Literally Starts Hammering Out the Plan for Mobile Payments

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 19 at 6:00 am PT

In an interview, eBay’s CEO provides a few details about the company’s mobile payments trial with Home Depot, and how it would expand from five to 51 stores across the country over the next week.

News Byte

6waves Lolapps Acquires Its Way Into Mobile Gaming

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 18 at 4:35 am PT

6waves Lolapps, one of the top game companies on Facebook, says it will start publishing Android and iOS games with the help of an acquisition. It is announcing today that it has acquired Dallas-based Escalation Studios. All combined, the company will have 230 employees spread across its offices in San Francisco, Dallas and multiple locations in Asia. Terms were not disclosed.

Fab.com Acquires FashionStake After Seven Months of Rapid Growth

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 13 at 6:00 am PT

Fab.com, a New York-based flash sales site known for selling home decor, apparel and other items from independent designers, has acquired FashionStake.

Video Poker Giant Bets $500 Million on Facebook Game Maker Double Down

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 12 at 1:11 pm PT

Seattle-based Double Down Interactive has been acquired by video poker giant International Game Technology for $500 million.

TripAdvisor CEO Says Wall Street Underestimates Its Value Now That It’s Flying Solo

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 9 at 6:00 am PT

TripAdvisor’s co-founder and CEO Stephen Kaufer talks to AllThingsD about the media company’s prospects for growth now that it has broken off from Expedia and is an independently traded company.