Rotten Tomatoes

Flixster Update: Warner Bros. Very Interested, as Yahoo Drops Out of Bidding for Social Movie Site

Kara Swisher in News on March 28, 2011 at 2:47 am PT

Warner Bros. appears to be the frontrunner in various talks to buy Flixster, the social movie site, while Internet giant Yahoo has dropped out due to price concerns. Sources said the reason for interest from the Time Warner-owned studio is due to a spate of recent digital efforts, including its expansion of a movie rental experiment on Facebook.

100 Percent Fresh Exclusive!: Flixster/Rotten Tomatoes in Acquisition Talks With Yahoo and Others

Kara Swisher in News on March 16, 2011 at 12:02 am PT

Flixster–the popular social movie site whose brands include the Rotten Tomatoes premium reviews site, as well as BuddyTV–is in early acquisition talks with several suitors, including Yahoo, said sources close to the situation. The price being discussed for the San Francisco-based start-up is between $60 million and $90 million, said several sources, in talks that are “substantive.”

Exclusive: Mickie Rosen to Join Yahoo as Audience Head

Kara Swisher in News on January 10, 2011 at 9:30 am PT

Yahoo is hiring former News Corp. and Disney online exec Mickie Rosen to run its Audience unit, which includes the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s powerful content sites, sources said. Rosen will report to Americas head Ross Levinsohn, who has worked with her before, both at News Corp. and Fuse Capital. The move is Levinsohn’s first management rejiggering since he took over last year, and there is likely to be more to come.

News Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group to Investment Firm

Ina Fried in Mobile on December 22, 2010 at 12:55 pm PT

News Corp. said Wednesday it had sold its Fox Mobile Group unit to Jesta Group, an investor firm. The mobile entertainment unit, which had been on the block for a while, includes Jamster, Mobizzo and mobile video service BitBop.

Clicker Links Up Facebook for Video Recommendations

Liz Gannes in Social on December 15, 2010 at 10:18 am PT

The online television guide Clicker today launched its own recommendation system called Clicker Predict, which utilizes “more than 50 explicit and implicit behaviors of individuals, their friends, and even kindred spirits in determining what someone will like to watch.”

Top iOS Apps of 2010: Flipboard, Hipstamatic, Plants Vs. Zombies and Osmos

John Paczkowski in Mobile on December 9, 2010 at 3:45 pm PT

Just nine days into December and the “Best of 2010? lists are already piling up like early snow. The latest, Apple’s iTunes Rewind, highlights the store’s most popular content of the year and, while its lists of music and movies are certainly worth a look, its breakdown of popular iOS apps is most interesting.

The Facebook Movie: Sorry, Mark–But Critics Like It, They Really Like It! (Plus the Taiwanesed Version!)

Kara Swisher in News on October 1, 2010 at 7:15 am PT

The Facebook movie is finally here, the reviews are in and–no surprise–the critics are raving. After all, it was done by Hollywood pros with director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin, who have apparently transformed the appalling badly penned and very fictional book “The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal” by Ben Mezrich into some bit of cinematic art. But that’s not BoomTown talking, so here is a rundown of five reviews by top critics.

"Toy Story 3″ Is One of Summer's Few Big Movie Hits–And Another Win for Apple's Jobs

Kara Swisher in News on June 24, 2010 at 8:01 am PT

It looks like the iPad isn’t Steve Jobs’s only hit these days. As it turns out, the hottest movie this summer–and one of the season’s few big successes–looks like it might be “Toy Story 3.” The third in the innovative flagship film franchise, it was made by the Pixar Animation Studios unit of Disney. While he did not actually craft this film, as he does his “magical” devices, guess who is Disney’s largest individual shareholder, with a seven percent stake?

Exclusive: The (Digital) End Is Nigh–News Corp. Unloading Beliefnet and Considering Jettisoning Jamba/Jamster

Kara Swisher in News on May 27, 2010 at 10:17 am PT

Beliefnet, the spirituality site bought by News Corp. in late 2007, is being shopped around for sale, according to several sources. Sources said that the media giant is also considering selling off Berlin-based Jamba/Jamster, a mobile content provider now called Fox Mobile Group. News Corp. paid $187.5 million to VeriSign for a 51 percent stake in Jamba in 2006 and bought the rest in 2008.