13 posts and columns on optimization

Facebook Smacks Back at Yahoo With Patent Claims in Counter-Lawsuit

in News on April 3 at 11:13 am PT

The other shoe in the Facebook-Yahoo patent fight just dropped.
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Exclusive: Longtime Yahoo Front Page Editor Liz Lufkin Out

in Media on September 6, 2011 at 8:37 am PT

Another ones bites the dust: According to sources close to the situation, longtime Yahoo Front Page chief Liz Lufkin has parted ways with the company.
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Demand Media Beats the Street in Q1 Earnings and Promises to Clean Up Its Content Act

in Media on May 5, 2011 at 1:39 pm PT

Demand Media handily beat Wall Street expectations in its first quarter results today, released after the market closed. The company reported revenue of $79.5 million and six cents a share in adjusted net income. Investors were expecting the company to report about $69.6 million in revenue for the three months, with four cents a share in profits. On a GAAP basis, net loss per share was 13 cents compared to 94 cents a year ago.

Yahoo's (and Associated Content Founder) Luke Beatty Talks About Google's Content Farm Putsch

in News on February 28, 2011 at 8:02 am PT

Yahoo’s Luke Beatty said he is not worried. “We welcome the change,” he insisted about Google taking aim last Friday at so-called “content farms,” producers of low-quality content that spam up the Web and the search giant’s results. “And we endorse what Google is doing 100 percent.” That’s ironic, given among those allegedly hit hardest by the tweaking of its famous algorithm–based on early, and perhaps questionable, surveys–is Yahoo’s Associated Content. Its founder talked to BoomTown about the impact.

Google’s 42nd Acquisition of the Year: Widevine

in News on December 3, 2010 at 3:00 pm PT

Back in January, Google CEO Eric Schmidt predicted the company would make one acquisition a month. Now with the year nearly finished, the company has made 41, including Phonetic Arts, announced today–more than half of significant size. And Google’s clearly not through yet. The company just announced the acqusition of video optimization outfit Widevine for an undisclosed price.
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Yahoo Acquires Ad Start-Up Dapper

in News on October 5, 2010 at 1:17 pm PT

Yahoo doesn’t just shed top execs–it actually buys stuff related to its core online advertising business! Thus, today, it announced the purchase of Dapper. Dapper, Yahoo said, “enables advertisers and agencies to quickly and easily build dynamic ad creative, leveraging data to automatically show the right product, offer, or message with each impression.”

Yelp Is Gone–For Now–But Google Has Plenty of Fish Left to Fry

in Media on December 21, 2009 at 7:38 pm PT

The Google/Yelp deal, which seemed close just a few days ago, is indeed gone, at least for now. But even if that one doesn’t go through, no need to worry. Google has plenty more in the hopper. M&A types say Eric Schmidt and crew have been unusually clear about the companies they want to buy, and that the list is a long one.
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(Cautiously) Upbeat Ad News of the Day: (Some) Display Ads Improving

in Media on September 29, 2009 at 3:00 am PT

Here’s your daily dose of goodish news about the Web ad business, courtesy (again) of Mark Mahaney, who says display ads are perking up. Or at least some of them are.
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More Money for Ad Tech: Rubicon Project Raises $9 Million

in Media on September 22, 2009 at 6:00 am PT

Start-ups whose business plans are based on selling advertising are having a very hard time raising money. But start-ups that want to make money by helping other people sell advertising? That’s another story. Today’s example: Rubicon Project, a Los Angeles-based advertising-optimization start-up, has raised a $9 million C round led by Peacock Equity, the joint venture co-owned by GE Capital and GE’s NBC Universal.

Google and Others Fish for Acquisitions: Here's What They Might Be Looking For

in News on September 2, 2009 at 10:33 am PT

Google CEO Eric Schmidt gave what he just had to know would be a much quoted comment to the Nikkei today, explicitly saying that the company had “begun seriously looking into acquisitions again.” Music to the beleaguered mergers and acquisitions market, to be sure, especially after a recent uptick from other big companies pulling out their wallets again as the impact of the econalypse subsides. According to sources, Google is working on at least a half-dozen acquisition deals, most of which are small start-ups in the online advertising and cloud-computing arenas. That would be welcome news for many.
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Are Ad Networks Coming Back? And Is That Good for Web Publishers?

in Media, July 22, 2009 at 9:01 pm PT

AP Exec: “To the Untrained Eye It Looks Like We’re Stupid”

in Media, April 10, 2009 at 12:38 pm PT