AllThingsD » Santa Clara

With Yahoo Shares Dropping Below $15, Will Shareholder Patience Collapse Too?

Kara Swisher — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:32:25 +0000

First, let it be said that Yahoo shareholders are a long-suffering group, enduring year after year of mishaps and mishegas with unusual patience.

Still — with the stock of the Silicon Valley Internet giant continuing a worrisome downward movement, closing just below $15 a share both Wednesday and again yesterday — could some of its major investors decide to get angry at Yahoo management and its board at next week’s annual meeting?

So far, a mass shareholder withholding of votes for board members, as has happened before, is not likely, despite some serious recent missteps in China, a continued talent drain and worries about Yahoo’s search deal with Microsoft.

And, of course, there is Yahoo’s lackluster stock, which closed at $14.77 yesterday. That’s nearly a three percent fall for the week and a 6.5 percent decline for the month, losses in value that outpace most other Web companies.

It is not entirely clear exactly what is causing the fall. Culprits may include: An overall weak market; continued uncertainty about Yahoo’s Chinese assets and their worth; recent aggressive moves in the display advertising market by Google; and, well, investor dissatisfaction with its current management.

It will be interesting to see what the mood of the Yahoo annual meeting is next week, which is taking place next Thursday morning at a Santa Clara, Calif., location near its Sunnyvale HQ.

Also on the agenda, a big strategy meeting by Yahoo’s directors, who will apparently be querying its execs, especially CEO Carol Bartz, about the vision and growth plans to get the company’s share price cooking again.

Which is actually a meeting shareholders might like to watch.

Intel Capital, Condé Nast Owner Invest $30 Million in Kno; Intel to Consult on Student Tablet Hardware

Kara Swisher — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 02:17:57 +0000

According to sources close to the situation, Intel Capital and Advance Publications will lead a $30 million investment round in Kno, the high-profile student tablet start-up.

In addition to the funding from its venture capital arm, Intel itself will consult with Kno on its tablet design. Kno, which is getting out of the hardware business, will now focus on its software to manage the devices that are aimed at the college market.

Intel will not manufacture tablets either. Instead, its engineers will consult with Kno on power management, graphics, display, systems integration, which it does for a variety of its customers.

Along with Intel Capital and Advance, current investors will also participate in the round, said sources. But Intel Capital and Advance, the owner of the Condé Nast publishing empire, make up a big part of the funding.

Sources said Intel Capital’s investment is $20 million and Advance and others make up the rest of it.

BoomTown reported in February that the much-funded and high-profile Silicon Valley start-up–aimed at making tablet computers focused at students–was considering selling off the entire hardware part of the business.

Sources said Kno execs have recently decided that the quicker-than-expected uptake in tablet production by a multitude of powerful device makers had made its efforts to package a seamless offering less critical.

Instead, the company will now focus on its robust software and services to offer students on the Apple iPad, as well as upcoming tablets based on Google’s Android mobile operating system and others.

The move is a dramatic shift for the company, which had not shipped significant numbers of the touchscreen device as it has long touted.

In fact, Kno said in November that it would ship a $599 and $899 version of the tablet by the end of the year.

The lower price was for its single-screen device, while the clamshell double-screen version was more expensive.

And, although it has been reported no pre-orders were fulfilled, Kno did indeed ship several hundred of them, built by China’s Foxconn, before stopping doing so earlier this year.

Many have been dubious about Kno’s ambitious hardware efforts.

That’s because marketing a new and complex product like the Kno takes a lot of effort and cash, especially since it is an increasingly competitive market for mobile and portable computing products that includes Apple, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Google, Amazon, Dell and many others.

Before this $30 million, Kno has raised another $46 million in funding to add to an earlier $10 million round.

Sources in February said that the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company considering going back out to raise even more.

Its current backers include prominent venture players like Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital, along with angel investors Mike Maples and Ron Conway.

Sources said the shift to deliver textbook and other student-related delivery system would be a better path for all that investment money, since Kno has established a wide range of partnerships with colleges and universities.

In addition, Kno co-founder Osman Rashid has a lot of experience in digital education market. He was also the co-founder of Chegg, the textbook rental business that is reportedly aiming for an IPO soon.

BusinessWeek was first to report that Intel Capital was making the investment in Kno, but the post did not mention Advance’s involvement or that Intel itself was licensing the hardware design business from Kno.

Exclusive: Kno Student Tablet Start-Up in Talks to Sell Off Tablet Part of Its Business

Kara Swisher — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 08:16:00 +0000

Kno–the much-funded and high-profile Silicon Valley start-up aimed at making tablet computers focused at students–is considering selling off the entire hardware part of the business and is in talks with two major consumer electronics manufacturers to do so, according to sources close to the situation.

Instead, the company will focus on its robust software and services to offer students on the Apple iPad, as well as upcoming tablets based on Google’s Android mobile operating system and others.

BoomTown could not determine which two companies Kno was in serious discussions with about unloading its hardware business, but the company has signed an NDA with one of them.

But, if a deal is struck, the move would be a dramatic shift for the company, which has yet to ship significant numbers of the student-focused touchscreen device as it has long touted.

In fact, Kno said in November that it would ship a $599 and $899 version of the tablet by the end of the year.

The lower price was for its single-screen device, while the clamshell double-screen version was more expensive.

And, although it has been reported no pre-orders were fulfilled, Kno did indeed ship several hundred of them, built by China’s Foxconn, before stopping doing so recently.

Many have been dubious about Kno’s ambitious hardware efforts.

Kno recently raised another $46 million in funding to add to a $10 million round, and sources said that the Santa Clara, Calif., company was considering going back out to raise even more.

Its current backers include prominent venture players like Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital, along with investors Mike Maples and Ron Conway.

A Kno spokeswoman declined comment.

But sources said the shift to deliver textbook and other student-related delivery system would be a better path for all that investment money, since Kno has established a wide range of partnerships with colleges and universities.

In addition, Kno Co-founder Osman Rashid has a lot of experience in digital education market. He was also the co-founder of Chegg, the textbook rental business that is reportedly aiming for an IPO soon.

You can see Rashid here, along with the Kno tablet prototype in the full demo video that the company did last year at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference:

[ See post to watch video ]

(Want to see it bigger? Click here.)

Four Arrested in Tech-Heavy Insider Trading Case

Arik Hesseldahl — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 18:29:24 +0000

The FBI has arrested four people in connection with an insider trading investigation that’s been conducted by prosecutors in New York City, and the defendants are connected to several technology companies.

James Fleishman, 41, of Santa Clara, Calif., a sales manager for a research firm called Primary Global Research, based in Mountain View, was arrested on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy. According to a statement from Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, Fleishman conspired to provide confidential information, including material, non-public information to the firm’s clients using a network of employees at various tech firms.

One was Daniel Devore, a global supply manager at Dell who also worked as a consultant for the research firm. Devore pled guilty on Dec. 10 to charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The complaint against him says he was paid more than $145,000 during a period starting in late 2007 and ending in Aug. 2010 for providing inside information on Dell’s suppliers. Devore is said to be cooperating in the case.

Three more people were arrested today, all on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud:

Mark Anthony Longoria, 44, of Round Rock, Texas, worked as a supply chain manager for Advanced Micro Devices. The complaint says Longoria provided Primary Global clients with revenue and gross margin information, sales figures and average sales prices, all very useful to stock traders. According to the complaint he was paid more than $200,000 for the information.

Walter Shimoon, 39, of San Diego, worked for Flextronics, the Singapore-based contract manufacturer as its senior director of business development. Between 2008 and 2010, the complaint says, he was paid $22,000 for consultation calls with Primary Global clients during which he supplied insider information about Flextronics’ dealings with Apple, filling them in with confidential details about the forthcoming iPhone models, and about the iPad.

Manosha Karunatilaka, 37 of Marlborough, Mass., worked for Taiwan Semiconductor Corp., the massive chip foundry company. The complaint says he provided Primary Global clients with insider information on that company, including confidential sales and shipping information, and was paid $35,000 between January of 2008 and June of 2010.

There’s more details here from The Wall Street Journal.

The criminal complaint is below:

Shimoon, Et Al. Complaint

Virtual Monday? How Holiday Shopping Has Included Intangibles.

Tricia Duryee — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 19:06:32 +0000

Cyber Monday reached a record-breaking level this year with more than $1 billion dollars spent online, making it the heaviest U.S. online shopping day ever.

Those estimates, provided by comScore, include any transaction conducted over the fixed Internet, either from home or work.

That means the record-breaking year also included the intangibles in our lives that you can’t touch or feel, and can’t ship in a box, like e-books and music, and virtual goods, such as a Gingerbread House or a Poinsettia to brighten up your FarmVille home for the holidays.

While likely still a small percentage of the $1 billion-plus in sales (comScore wasn’t willing to break down the numbers), companies like Zynga that develop many popular social games on Facebook didn’t waste any time taking advantage of the shopping frenzy that hits the Monday after Thanksgiving as people return to work and click to buy.

Sales spiked as Zynga kicked off the week with a new holiday lineup. On FrontierVille, users were offered mystery animals, like a polar bear wearing a Santa hat and a penguin sporting a reindeer hat. The second most popular decoration of the day was a blanket of snow for the player’s homestead. It also debuted holiday cheer in FarmVille with a winter horse-drawn carriage and a Santa Gnome as two of the top-selling items.

But it wasn’t all about decorations. On Monday, Zynga offered its most expensive virtual item in FarmVille’s history. The so-called “Unwither Ring,” which has been offered only two other times, costs 250 in Farm Cash (roughly $40). Players who are willing to splurge will never have their crops wither again–a situation that occurs if you show up to plow too late. And if you are looking for something special for that certain someone, the Unwither Ring is also available as a gift.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based PlaySpan, which offers monetization platform services to 1,000-plus online games and social networks, was willing to be a little more specific about Cyber Monday’s spike. Sales of PlaySpan’s game card–available in North America at 7-Eleven, Rite Aid and other stores–were up 69 percent on Black Friday, compared to the previous week. Its corresponding marketplace, which features virtual goods, also reported a substantial increase in purchases over the weekend. The bump in sales increased 11 percent from Thursday through Sunday, compared to the same period a week earlier.

Kno Prices Its Student Tablets at $599 and $899 to Ship by End of the Year

Kara Swisher — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 05:00:01 +0000

Kno, the high-profile Silicon Valley start-up trying to jump-start a market for tablets focused on students, announced tonight that it will have a limited number available by the end of the year for sale at prices of $599 and $899.

The lower price is for its single-screen device, while the clamshell double-screen version is more expensive.

Kno would not say exactly how many it has ordered for its first tablet production run–the device is being built by China’s Foxconn–but co-founder and CEO Osman Rashid said in an interview earlier today with BoomTown that units would number “in the thousands.”

Rashid said the Kno tablet will initially be aimed at 10 college campuses across the U.S., although he also declined to name them.

“We are going to do online and offline marketing, in a very focused approach,” he said, noting that Kno would be working with some college bookstores too.

Marketing a new and complex product like the Kno will take a lot of effort and cash, especially since it is an increasingly competitive market for mobile and portable computing products that includes Apple, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Google, Amazon, Dell and many others.

Kno recently raised another $46 million in funding to add to a $10 million round, and sources said that the Santa Clara, Calif., company could be back out raising even more early next year.

Its current backers include prominent venture players like Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital, along with investors Mike Maples and Ron Conway.

Kno’s Rashid said his company pushed the go button after getting good feedback from students in a beta test, half of whom used the single-screen device and the other half the two screens, along with its related education platform software.

“We found that 85 percent of those using the single screen wanted the dual-screen version and that those using two screens took three times more notes,” said Rashid. “Students said they love the fact that they can write in the textbook itself and it appears the way it needs to be, even in digital form.”

The first Kno will have an aluminum body, and the company will also offer a set of accessories, such as a cover and a stand.

And Kno will watch initial sales carefully. “As a start-up, we want to make sure we are meeting demand, but also that we roll it out in a careful approach,” said Rashid.

Indeed–and it will be interesting to see how that goes for the ambitious and innovative Kno.

Until the results are in, here is the official press release from Kno:

Kno Announces Pricing and Pre-Order Availability for Tablet Textbook; Pays for Itself in 3 Semesters

Delivers Significant Student Impact for Less than 1% the Cost of a 4-Year College Education

Santa Clara, CA–November 9, 2010–Kno, Inc., a powerful, groundbreaking tablet textbook designed specifically for students and the education market, today revealed the price of its 14.1 inch single and dual-screen tablets at $599 and $899, respectively. The company also announced that it is now accepting a limited number of pre-orders for an initial shipment that is expected to be on customers’ doorsteps by the end of the year.

“Kno’s extraordinary benefits represent only a tiny fraction of the overall cost of college, but its impact on the student’s career–and the energy it adds to the experience, the thrill of learning, and the ultimate grade–is dramatic,” said Osman Rashid, Co-Founder and CEO of Kno, Inc. “Even better, when you do the math, it actually pays for itself and still saves $1,300 in digital textbook costs.”

Kno has been beta-testing the product with students and the response has been overwhelmingly positive for both the single and dual screen devices. Far more than just a digital textbook, Kno is creating a powerfully effective new learning environment that will make students at all levels more successful at processing, grasping and retaining both facts and concepts.

“My experience with Kno has been really incredible. My books have become more interactive and the ability to hand-write electronic notes on the book pages themselves has changed how I retain information,” said Melissa Lin, a sophomore majoring in Biology at UC Berkeley that has been beta-testing the Kno tablet. “I see a ton of difference with the Kno. I can carry everything with me including my books, my notebooks and a browser for research. And, with the lower cost of digital textbooks, it will pay for itself in three semesters which is really great.”

Digital textbooks, which typically cost between 30 and 50 percent less than physical textbooks, will be priced separately and will be sold through the Kno bookstore, which will be accessible on every Kno device. Starting today, students will be able to browse Kno’s bookstore at www.kno.com/store/books, which will include tens of thousands of the most popular textbooks and supplement materials. Kno has previously announced that it is working with major textbook publishers including Cengage, McGraw Hill and Pearson. The company recently added publishers including Macmillan, Bedford, Freeman & Worth and Holtzbrinck as well as BarCharts Publishing, Kaplan, Random House and a large number of the University Presses.

“According to the not-for-profit College Board’s 2010 report, the average college student spends approximately $1,100 a year on book and supplies,” said Babur Habib, CTO and Co-Founder of Kno, Inc. “Kno can reduce that cost while bringing education into the 21st Century, providing students with a far superior learning experience than they have today.”

To learn more about Kno, please visit the Kno blog at http://blog.kno.com or visit us on Facebook www.facebook.com/GoodtoKNO, Twitter www.twitter.com/GoodtoKNO and YouTube www.youtube.com/GoodtoKNO.

Kno Hires Fancy CFO, as It Preps Tablet Launch (And Possible New Funding Search)

Kara Swisher — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 18:00:51 +0000

Kno, the start-up attempting to make and market a student-aimed tablet and learning platform, has hired Stuart West as its new CFO.

West (pictured here) has worked at Yahoo, InfoSpace, TiVo and J.P. Morgan.

Kno is continuing to make key hires as it prepares to ship the product by the end of the year, after recently raising another $46 million in funding to add to a $10 million round.

Sources said that the Santa Clara, Calif., company could be back out raising even more money early next year.

Its current backers include prominent venture players like Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital, along with investors Mike Maples and Ron Conway.

Kno to Also Make a Single-Screen Tablet Textbook

Kara Swisher — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 17:40:50 +0000

Kno, the start-up that is creating a digital tablet for students, said it is also planning on releasing a single-screen version.

The company–which was started by the founder of Chegg, the online textbook rental service–had debuted a double-screen tablet (pictured here) at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference in June.

The current clamshell device has a pair of touchscreens that open and shut like a book, and Kno will offer an online store linked to the tablet for the purchase of materials.

Some felt the double-screened device might be too cumbersome, given the plethora of tablets in a variety of sizes that are being planned and released soon, all influenced by the popular Apple (AAPL) iPad.

Kno said its single-screen tablet will be smaller and sold at a lower price point, but will be shipped at the same time as the original double-screen, by the end of the year.

The company will be announcing pricing and ship dates soon.

When it does, Kno will be headed right into a competitive and increasingly innovative tablet market that now also includes Amazon (AMZN), Samsung, Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Google (GOOG).

Kno is certainly girding for battle in this portable arena. It nabbed an additional $46 million in venture funding from a panoply of Silicon Valley bigs earlier this month.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based Kno previously raised almost $10 million in funding from prominent venture players like Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital, along with investors Mike Maples and Ron Conway.

In addition, well-known techie Marc Andreessen is now on Kno’s board.

Here is the video of a prototype of the double-screen Kno in action at D8:

[ See post to watch video ]

Want to see it bigger? Click here.

And here is the official press release from Kno:

Kno Breaks New Ground with the World’s First
Single Screen Tablet Textbook

Kno Continues the Pace of Innovation in Integrated Learning with a Smaller Version of the Kno

San Francisco, CA–September 27, 2010–Kno, Inc., the groundbreaking tablet textbook and dynamic learning platform, today announced its further commitment to the education market with a single screen version of its tablet textbook. The single screen version extends the breakthroughs and functionality of the dual screen version announced in June.

“Kno fundamentally improves the way students learn,” said Osman Rashid, the CEO and Co-Founder of Kno, Inc. “We are driven to innovate in a category that has been static for too long. Even though the Kno pays for itself in 13 months, the smaller up front investment of the single screen version will allow more students to use our learning platform.”

Kno, short for knowledge, is a transformative learning platform that blends a touch-screen tablet, digital textbooks, course materials, note-taking, web access, educational applications, digital media, sharing and more into a powerful and engaging educational experience that is not available on any other tablet or eReader today.

“From day one, we designed the Kno with flexibility in mind,” said Babur Habib, CTO and Co-Founder of Kno, Inc. “We developed the product to have multiple configurations and meet different student needs. The single screen maintains the elegance of our fluid, intuitive interface while capturing the richness and ‘page fidelity’ of the original textbook.”

The company plans to ship both the single and two-screen tablet textbooks to consumers by the end of 2010. Pricing and pre-order announcements will be made in the coming months.

Exclusive: Chegg Raises $75 Million in Additional Funding from Asian Firm

Kara Swisher — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 03:55:15 +0000

Chegg, the online textbook rental service, has raised another $75 million from Asia-based Ace Limited, according to sources.

Ace seems to be nonexistent on the Internet, although sources said it is a Hong Kong-based investment firm.

The round comes after a huge Series D investment in late 2009, which already brought Chegg’s funding to a whopping $144 million.

Venture firms, such as Kleiner Perkins, Foundation Capital, Insight Venture Partners and others have presumably handed over that money in hopes of big returns.

And, of course, the inevitable IPO for the Silicon Valley start-up.

That’s because Chegg has become the front-runner in the increasingly competitive online textbook rental space as it seeks to disrupt the $10 billion college textbook business.

Chegg got its start in 2005 at Iowa State University as a classified rental service, where books were the dominant item, but evolved its business to focus on actually doing the textbook rentals.

The company’s unusual name, Chegg, is a mashup of “chicken and egg,” and its model is similar to that of innovative video rental outfit Netflix (NFLX).

Chegg now serves close to 7,000 schools across the U.S., with 120 employees in Silicon Valley and more at a warehouse operation in Louisville, Ky.

Typically, a rental costs a fraction of what buying a book outright does. It is ordered online and then sent to a renter, who then returns it.

There is, of course, lots of competition.

The Barnes & Noble (BKS) College division recently began testing a textbook rental program, for example, and is rolling it out to 25 U.S. colleges. And BookRenter is a smaller rival.

In a bid to expand its offerings beyond books, Chegg recently acquired CourseRank, a Mountain View, Calif., start-up that helps students “share their course schedule, take classes with their friends, read and write reviews on classes and professors as well as find out how professors grade.”

Here is a video interview I did with Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig recently at Chegg’s Santa Clara, Calif., HQ:

[ See post to watch video ]

Here's What VCs Get for $46 Million: The Kno Tablet D8 Demo

Kara Swisher — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:55:13 +0000

Today, Kno, a start-up that is taking on the textbook by replacing it with a tablet aimed at students, nabbed another $46 million in venture funding from a panoply of Silicon Valley bigs.

And what are those moneybags getting for their dough?

Well, here’s the demo for Kno, which debuted at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference in June.

The clamshell device has a pair of touchscreens that open and shut like a book, and Kno will offer an online store linked to the tablet for the purchase of materials.

In fact, Kno shares a co-founder with Chegg, the online textbook-rental service.

That would be Osman Rashid–and you can pretty much draw a straight line from Chegg to Kno.

But rather than focusing on making an old business better via the Web, as Chegg does, Kno will be headed right into the competitive tablet market that now includes Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Samsung, Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and, reportedly, Google (GOOG).

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based Kno has previously raised almost $10 million in funding from prominent venture players like Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital, along with investors Mike Maples and Ron Conway.

In addition, Marc Andreessen is now on Kno’s board.

Andreessen Horowitz is upping the ante this new round too, as you can read in the press release below.

Kno Funding FINAL FINAL Release

And, here is the full demo video for Kno at D8:

[ See post to watch video ]

(Want to see it bigger? Click here.)

Chegg's Dan Rosensweig Talks About the Next Wave of Online Textbook Rentals and More!

Kara Swisher — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:58:21 +0000

Earlier this week, BoomTown went down to Santa Clara, Calif. to the offices of Chegg, the online textbook rental leader, to pay a visit on longtime Silicon Valley exec Dan Rosensweig.

The voluble Rosensweig has had a series on interesting posts, from stints at CNET Networks and Ziff-Davis before a top job at Yahoo (YHOO). After that, it was as a partner at the Quadrangle Group and then running the Guitar Hero division of Activision Blizzard (ATVI).

Now he is CEO of Chegg, where he arrived in February.

After raising $144 million in funding, Chegg has become the front-runner in the increasingly competitive online textbook rental space.

Venture firms, such as Kleiner Perkins, Foundation Capital and, most recently, Insight Venture Partners, have presumably handed over that money to co-founders Osman Rashid and Aayush Phumbhra in hopes of big returns.

And, of course, the inevitable IPO.

Chegg got its start in 2005 at Iowa State University as a classified rental service, where books were the dominant item, but evolved its business to focus on actually doing the textbook rentals.

The company’s unusual name, Chegg, is a mashup of chicken and egg and its model is similar to that of innovative video rental outfit Netflix (NFLX).

Chegg now serves close to 7,000 schools across the U.S., with 120 employees in Silicon Valley and more at a warehouse operation in Louisville, Ky.

Typically, a rental costs a fraction of what buying a book outright does. It is ordered online and then sent to a renter, who then returns it.

All this activity has attracted a lot of interest from both big and small players, especially given the $10 billion college textbook business.

That makes for lots of competition. The Barnes & Noble (BKS) College division recently began testing a textbook rental program, for example, and is rolling it out to 25 U.S. colleges. And BookRenter is a smaller competitor.

Today, in a bid to expand its offerings beyond books, Chegg said it had acquired CourseRank, a Mountain View, Calif. start-up that helps students “share their course schedule, take classes with their friends, read and write reviews on classes and professors as well as find out how professors grade.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Rosensweig talks about all that and more, such as digital downloads, in the video interview below, which includes a tour of Chegg:

[ See post to watch video ]

And here’s the official press release about Chegg’s acquisition of CourseRank:

CHEGG.COM ACQUIRES COURSERANK

Popular college course planning site that helps students with course and professor selection, hopes for rapid expansion

SANTA CLARA, Calif., August 19, 2010–Chegg.com, the number one online textbook rental company, today announced that it has acquired CourseRank, the Mountain View-based start-up that provides college students an easy and convenient way to create and share their course schedule, take classes with their friends, read and write reviews on classes and professors as well as find out how professors grade.

“We are excited about adding CourseRank to the portfolio of content and services we can offer students to make college easier and more affordable,” said Dan Rosensweig, President and CEO of Chegg.com. “We all share a commitment to saving students time, money and making them smarter. It’s amazing how popular CourseRank has become on campus, having nearly 100,000 users and growing every day.”

Founded by five college students and already being used on 175 colleges and universities across the U.S., CourseRank helps students manage and plan their academic careers. CourseRank’s scheduling, planning and course review system guides students by arranging relevant course information in an easily accessible display where they can track their progress towards the goal of graduation, mapping courses taken, and grades received. A feature for students to find textbooks for their courses using CourseRank is currently in beta for select schools.

“We’re excited to be part of the number one online textbook rental company in such a hot space,” said Filip Kaliszan, Co-Founder and CEO of CourseRank. “We share Chegg’s commitment to using technology to make life easier and cheaper for college kids, and we are excited about expanding our reach to more schools, adding many new features in the next few months.”

CourseRank, founded in 2007 by three Stanford University students, has seen tremendous growth in the past year. To date, the company has achieved adoption by some of the country’s top schools including Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, and Cornell University.
Students can sign up for free and the first 5,000 will be entered for a chance to win cool prizes. For more information, visit www.courserank.com.”

Intel Gets into Protection Racket, Buys McAfee for $7.7 Billion

John Paczkowski — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:03:40 +0000

Intel announced its largest acquisition to date this morning, and it has little to do with the chipset market it has dominated for decades.

The chipmaker said it has agreed to buy antivirus software company McAfee (MFE) in a $7.7 billion acquisition that will expand its security offerings. Under the terms of the deal, Intel will pay $48 a share in cash, a hefty 60 percent premium over McAfee’s Wednesday closing stock price of $29.93. Both companies’ boards have approved the deal, though it still requires approval from McAfee shareholders and regulators.

What does Intel (INTC) want with McAfee, a vendor of oft-maligned antivirus software? To embed some of the company’s security tools directly into Intel chips for “hardware enhanced security.” And secure another, steadier revenue stream, perhaps.

Anyway, the acquisition is Intel’s largest ever, easily surpassing its 1999 takeover of Level One for $2.2 billion. Once it closes, McAfee will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel, reporting to its software and services group.

“With the rapid expansion of growth across a vast array of Internet-connected devices, more and more of the elements of our lives have moved online,” said Intel President and Chief Executive Paul Otellini. “In the past, energy-efficient performance and connectivity have defined computing requirements. Looking forward, security will join those as a third pillar of what people demand from all computing experiences.”

And just like that Intel is a player in the security software and services market.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.–Intel Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire McAfee, Inc., through the purchase of all of the company’s common stock at $48 per share in cash, for approximately $7.68 billion. Both boards of directors have unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to close after McAfee shareholder approval, regulatory clearances and other customary conditions specified in the agreement.

“We believe this acquisition will result in our ability to deliver a safer, more secure and trusted Internet-enabled device experience.”
The acquisition reflects that security is now a fundamental component of online computing. Today’s security approach does not fully address the billions of new Internet-ready devices connecting, including mobile and wireless devices, TVs, cars, medical devices and ATM machines as well as the accompanying surge in cyber threats. Providing protection to a diverse online world requires a fundamentally new approach involving software, hardware and services.

Inside Intel, the company has elevated the priority of security to be on par with its strategic focus areas in energy-efficient performance and Internet connectivity.

McAfee, which has enjoyed double-digit, year-over-year growth and nearly 80 percent gross margins last year, will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intel, reporting into Intel’s Software and Services Group. The group is managed by Renée James, Intel senior vice president, and general manager of the group.

“With the rapid expansion of growth across a vast array of Internet-connected devices, more and more of the elements of our lives have moved online,” said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. “In the past, energy-efficient performance and connectivity have defined computing requirements. Looking forward, security will join those as a third pillar of what people demand from all computing experiences.

“The addition of McAfee products and technologies into the Intel computing portfolio brings us incredibly talented people with a track record of delivering security innovations, products and services that the industry and consumers trust to make connecting to the Internet safer and more secure,” Otellini added.

“Hardware-enhanced security will lead to breakthroughs in effectively countering the increasingly sophisticated threats of today and tomorrow,” said James. “This acquisition is consistent with our software and services strategy to deliver an outstanding computing experience in fast-growing business areas, especially around the move to wireless mobility.”

“McAfee is the next step in this strategy, and the right security partner for us,” she added. “Our current work together has impressive prospects, and we look forward to introducing a product from our strategic partnership next year.”

“The cyber threat landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years, with millions of new threats appearing every month,” said Dave DeWalt, president and CEO of McAfee. “We believe this acquisition will result in our ability to deliver a safer, more secure and trusted Internet-enabled device experience.”

McAfee, based in Santa Clara and founded in 1987, is the world’s largest dedicated security technology company with approximately $2 billion in revenue in 2009. With approximately 6,100 employees, McAfee’s products and technologies deliver secure solutions and services to consumers, enterprises and governments around the world and include a strong sales force that works with a variety of customers.

The company has a suite of software-related security solutions, including end-point and networking products and services that are focused on helping to ensure Internet-connected devices and networks are protected from malicious content, phony requests and unsecured transactions and communications. Among others, products include McAfee Total Protection™, McAfee Antivirus, McAfee Internet Security, McAfee Firewall, McAfee IPS as well as an expanding line of products targeting mobile devices such as smartphones.

Intel has made a series of recent and successful software acquisitions to pursue a deliberate strategy focused on leading companies in their industry delivering software that takes advantage of silicon. These include gaming, visual computing, embedded device and machine software and now security.

Home to two of the most innovative labs and research in the high-tech industry, Intel and McAfee will also jointly explore future product concepts to further strengthen security in the cloud network and myriad of computers and devices people use in their everyday lives.

On a GAAP basis, Intel expects the combination to be slightly dilutive to earnings in the first year of operations and approximately flat in the second year. On a non-GAAP basis, excluding a one-time write down of deferred revenue when the transaction closes and amortization of acquired intangibles, Intel expects the combination to be slightly accretive in the first year and improve beyond that.

Intel was advised by Goldman Sachs & Co. and Morrison & Foerster LLP. McAfee was advised by Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C.

In the Kno: Kakai to Demo Student-Focused Tablet at D8

Kara Swisher — Fri, 14 May 2010 07:01:50 +0000

Recently, BoomTown uncloaked one of Silicon Valley’s hotter “stealth” start-ups, called Kakai.

My take: An advanced tablet device and related service aimed at students.

Today, Kakai is taking another step out of the shadows by changing its name to Kno, which is short for knowledge.

You can see its new logo above–and on the new Kno Web site is this message: “Our stealth days are almost over! You’ll need to wait a few more days to really Kno.”

Actually, you will be able to see exactly what the company has come up with at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference, where it will be demoing the Kno for the first time in public.

The Linux-based foldable double-screened device is designed to feel like a mix of notebook and textbook.

Gesture-based and portable, Kno will be aimed directly at the education niche. The endeavor goes well beyond the tablet itself by including robust software and a seamless Web site to deliver course material, allowing for note-taking and offering other audio and video capabilities.

Founded almost exactly a year ago, Kakai had been one of the start-ups in Silicon Valley in the deepest of stealth modes, despite a panoply of high-profile players involved.

As I wrote:

“In simplest terms, it’s essentially a Kindle for students.

But that’s just the tip of what is perhaps one of the more ambitious and innovative efforts on the part of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who already has one hit under his belt.”

I was referring to Osman Rashid, whose other start-up is fast-growing online textbook rental leader Chegg.

And you can pretty much draw a straight line from Chegg to Kakai.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Kakai/Kno has raised almost $10 million in funding from prominent venture players like Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital, along with investors Mike Maples and Ron Conway.

In addition, Marc Andreessen is now on Kakai’s board.

Rashid, who founded Kakai with Babur Habib, has worked in companies related to the consumer electronics industry.

You can check out their efforts on June 2 on this site, when we will be providing ongoing coverage of D8, where we will also be featuring four other demos of cool new innovations, along with interviews of top tech and media execs.

In the Kno: Kakai to Demo Student-Focused Tablet at D8

Kara Swisher — Fri, 14 May 2010 07:01:00 +0000

Recently, BoomTown uncloaked one of Silicon Valley’s hotter “stealth” start-ups, called Kakai.

My take: An advanced tablet device and related service aimed at students.

Today, Kakai is taking another step out of the shadows by changing its name to Kno, which is short for knowledge.

You can see its new logo above–and on the new Kno Web site is this message: “Our stealth days are almost over! You’ll need to wait a few more days to really Kno.”

Actually, you will be able to see exactly what the company has come up with at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference, where it will be demoing the Kno for the first time in public.

The Linux-based foldable double-screened device is designed to feel like a mix of notebook and textbook.

Founded almost exactly a year ago, Kakai had been one of the start-ups in Silicon Valley in the deepest of stealth modes, despite a panoply of high-profile players involved.

As I wrote:

“In simplest terms, it’s essentially a Kindle for students.

But that’s just the tip of what is perhaps one of the more ambitious and innovative efforts on the part of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who already has one hit under his belt.”

I was referring to Osman Rashid, whose other start-up is fast-growing online textbook rental leader Chegg.

And you can pretty much draw a straight line from Chegg to Kakai.

In addition, Marc Andreessen is now on Kakai’s board.

Rashid, who founded Kakai with Babur Habib, has worked in companies related to the consumer electronics industry.

Exclusive: Kakai, Stealthy No More–It's a Kindle for Students and Much More

Kara Swisher — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 11:00:35 +0000

Founded last May, Kakai is one of the start-ups in Silicon Valley in the deepest of stealth modes, despite a panoply of high-profile players involved.

But while there have been sketchy reports suggesting that the start-up may be working on some kind of e-reader, BoomTown has found out exactly what it’s up to via reports of a concept video the company has shown potential investors and interviews with several sources close to the situation.

In simplest terms, it’s essentially a Kindle for students.

But that’s just the tip of what is perhaps one of the more ambitious and innovative efforts on the part of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who already has one hit under his belt.

That would be Osman Rashid, whose other start-up is fast-growing online textbook rental leader Chegg.

Chegg recently hired former Yahoo (YHOO) exec Dan Rosensweig as its CEO, taking over from Rashid, who wanted to focus on Kakai.

Interestingly, you can pretty much draw a straight line from Chegg to Kakai.

But rather than focusing on making an old business better via the Web, as Chegg does, Kakai is plunging right into the competitive tablet market that now includes Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Samsung, Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and, reportedly, Google (GOOG).

While these efforts, including Apple’s iPad, for example, are mostly aimed at broader media markets, sources said Kakai’s effort focuses solely on the educational niche, offering a Linux-based foldable double-screened device.

Gesture-based and portable, it is designed to feel like a mix of a notepad and a book.

While Kakai declined to comment, sources said a key part of the endeavor goes well beyond the tablet itself by including robust software and seamless Web site to deliver course material, allowing for note-taking and offering other audio and video capabilities.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Kakai, which is nearing 50 employees, is now prepping the device to be ready for a demo in several months.

It’s paying for all this with almost $10 million in funding from prominent venture players like Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital, along with investors Mike Maples and Ron Conway.

In addition, Marc Andreessen is now on Kakai’s board.

Rashid, who founded Kakai with Babur Habib, has worked in companies related to the consumer electronics industry.

Until he reveals more specifics, though, don’t expect much from Kakai’s homepage (see below), which has a very funny trio of jokes that play with the company name, asking “Which Kakai are you looking for?”

The possibilities include Kakai Bautista, a singer-comedienne in the Philippines; Neferirkare Kakai, third Pharaoh of Egypt during the Fifth dynasty; and Kakai, an Austrian pumpkin that yields valuable oil that promotes prostate health.”

Not looking for the singer, the pharaoh or the pumpkin?,” reads the bottom of the Kakai homepage. “Well, we wish we could tell you more, but you’ll just have to cool your jets.”

Perhaps now it’s time to start heating them up.

Vudu Convinces Walmart to Pay Up: Why an Also-Ran Web Movie Service Sold for More Than $100 Million

Peter Kafka — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:37:56 +0000

As I wrote in January, Walmart is indeed interested in buying Vudu, the online movie service. I was off about one thing, though–the price.

Walmart (WMT) will be paying more than $100 million for the service, people familiar with the deal tell me. That’s much more than the $50 million I had previously heard Vudu was seeking and much more than industry observers thought it would get.

At this point I need to advise skepticism about reported sales prices, since they’re often inflated or include theoretical but seldom achieved “earnout” clauses. But my source tells me this will be a cash deal when it officially closes, which it hasn’t. No money has changed hands yet.

Vudu is an also-ran in the online movie business, which isn’t that much of a business to begin with. So why would the world’s biggest retailer pay a premium to get in?

Because Vudu’s management has convinced Walmart that its video-compression technology is something special, people familiar with the transaction tell me. Apparently, others think so, too: Vudu was able to attract multiple bidders. I’ve heard, but haven’t been able to confirm, that one of them was Cisco (CSCO).

Vudu has licensing deals with all the big movie studios as well, but that’s of secondary importance to Walmart, which has way more leverage with Hollywood than Apple, Netflix or Amazon (AMZN): The studios need Walmart’s physical reach much more than Walmart needs to get into the digital movie business.

Still, doesn’t hurt to make nice. Walmart and Vudu have been briefing the Hollywood studios today in advance of an official announcement, which could come later today.

Here’s some more background on the piece, from my January story:

After trying for two years to compete with Netflix’s DVD-by-mail business, Walmart gave up in 2005 and agreed to send its customers directly to Netflix (NFLX). In 2007, with the backing of all the big studios and tech help from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), the retailer tried to launch a download service, a la Apple’s (AAPL) iTunes. But it abandoned that effort in less than a year.

Meanwhile, sources say Vudu has been seeking a buyer–in the form of either a big-box retailer or an electronics manufacturer–for some time without success. Internet executive Mark Jung ran the company for a year but left in November 2008; founder Alain Rossmann became interim CEO when Jung left and has kept the title since then.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Vudu has raised at least $21 million from Benchmark Capital and Greylock Partners.

UPDATE: Walmart has officially announced the deal, noting that it is expected to close within a few weeks. No word on price except that it won’t be material.

Walmart Announces Acquisition of Digital Entertainment Provider, VUDU
Company takes next step to enhance home entertainment and information delivery options for consumers

BENTONVILLE, Ark., Feb. 22, 2010 — Walmart announced today a definitive agreement to acquire VUDU, Inc., a leading provider of digital technologies and services that enable the delivery of entertainment content directly to broadband high-definition TVs and Blu-ray players. The deal is expected to close within the next few weeks.

VUDU is a revolutionary service, built into a growing number of broadband-ready TVs and Blu-ray players, that delivers instant access to thousands of movies and TV shows directly through the television. Customers with broadband Internet access and an Internet-ready TV or Blu-ray player can rent or purchase movies, typically in high-definition, without needing a connected computer or cable/satellite service. New movies and features will be added continually, enabling customers to enjoy a product that continues to become more robust long after they have left the store.

“The real winner here is the customer,” said Eduardo Castro-Wright, vice chairman for Walmart. “Combining VUDU’s unique digital technology and service with Walmart’s retail expertise and scale will provide customers with unprecedented access to home entertainment options as they migrate to a digital environment.”

VUDU has licensing agreements with almost every major movie studio and dozens of independent and international distributors to offer approximately 16,000 movies, including the largest 1080p library of video on-demand movies available anywhere. Via their broadband Internet connection, users have the ability to rent or buy titles and begin viewing them instantly.

VUDU will continue developing entertainment and information delivery solutions such as VUDU Apps, a platform that delivers hundreds of streaming Internet applications and services to TVs and Blu-ray players with built-in Internet connectivity. VUDU has partnered with some of the leading names in Internet and media entertainment to offer applications on its platform including Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, The New York Times and The Associated Press.

“We are excited about the opportunity to take our company’s vision to the next level,” said Edward Lichty, VUDU executive vice president. “VUDU’s services and Apps platform will give Walmart a powerful new vehicle to offer customers the content they want in a way that expands the frontier of quality, value and convenience.”

VUDU, based in Santa Clara, Calif., will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Walmart. The company is not disclosing financial terms of the agreement as the acquisition is not material to its first quarter earnings for fiscal year 2011.

Rosensweig to Leave Guitar Hero; Takes Over as CEO of Online Textbook Rental Start-Up Chegg

Kara Swisher — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:00:20 +0000

Longtime Silicon Valley exec Dan Rosensweig (pictured here) is stepping down as CEO and president of the Guitar Hero division of Activision Blizzard to take a new job as president and CEO of Chegg, the top online textbook rental start-up.

Both companies confirmed the move, which is somewhat unexpected given that the former Yahoo (YHOO) COO landed the job running the top gaming franchise in March of last year.

It has been an eventful, but also a particularly tough year at Guitar Hero, in the face of yet another withering downturn in the gaming market.

While Activision (ATVI) introduced a new version of its flagship Guitar Hero game, as well as a new DJ Hero, Band Hero and a Guitar Hero: Van Halen version, sales were weaker overall, even though DJ Hero was the the No. 1 new game in both the U.S. and Europe.

Nonetheless, according to a recent report from research firm NPD Group, sales in the videogame space were down eight percent in 2009 from 2008.

And while Guitar Hero did gain market share as the most popular such game in its genre, most expect its trajectory to be downward.

Guitar Hero 5 sold slightly fewer than 996,000 units from September through December in North America, for example, according to NPD.

While global sales were better, Guitar Hero: World Tour, in comparison, sold 3.4 million units the year earlier.

In contrast, Rosensweig–who is probably much more suited to the pure Web space and the Silicon Valley scene–will be taking over a much faster-growing business at Chegg, based in Santa Clara, Calif.

It has become the front-runner in the increasingly competitive online textbook rental space.

To help maintain that lead, Chegg has garnered a huge $144 million investment kitty.

Top venture firms, such as Kleiner Perkins, Foundation Capital and, most recently, Insight Venture Partners, have presumably handed over that money to co-founders Osman Rashid and Aayush Phumbhra in hopes of big returns.

The pair started Chegg in 2005 at Iowa State University as a classified rental service, where books were the dominant item, but evolved its business to focus on actually doing the textbook rentals.

The company’s unusual name, Chegg, is a mashup of chicken and egg and its model is similar to that of innovative video rental outfit Netflix (NFLX).

Chegg now serves close to 7,000 schools across the U.S. and has a cute and student-friendly practice of planting a tree for every textbook rented, bought or sold.

With 120 employees in Silicon Valley and more at a warehouse operation in Louisville, Ky., Chegg claims it has grown over 600 percent year over year since its founding, although the start-up would not provide more specifics on financials.

A spokeswoman said that company rented more books in January of this year than all of last year and has saved students more than $137 million.

Typically, a rental costs a fraction of what buying a book outright does. It is ordered online and then sent to a renter, who then returns it.

All this activity has attracted a lot of interest from both big and small players, especially given the $10 billion college textbook business.

While one can assume that a lot of Chegg’s business will eventually move to digital downloads, especially as the use of e-readers explodes, the physical business is strong for the near term.

The Barnes & Noble (BKS) College division recently began testing a textbook rental program, for example, and is rolling it out to 25 U.S. colleges. And BookRenter is a smaller competitor.

But with Chegg, Rosensweig is getting to ride the lead horse in the space, taking over from current CEO Rashid.

In an interview a year ago, in fact, Rashid said, “I do not want to be a long-term CEO. My passion is solving the problem and getting the company to a place where it can be taken to the next step.”

While he will remain chairman, the entrepreneur has recently closed $7.5 million in funding for a new stealth start-up called Kakai. Sources have said it is focused on the even more crowded e-reader space.

The replacement for Rosensweig–who had been working in private equity since his departure from Yahoo (YHOO) in late 2006 and has also worked at CNET Networks and Ziff-Davis–will be the Guitar Hero division’s current COO, David Haddad.

Until he has something to say about Chegg, here is a video interview I did with Rosensweig in September, when the new version of GH5, as well as Band Hero and DJ Hero, were launching:

[ See post to watch video ]

Here is the full press release from Chegg about the appointment:

Chegg.com Names Daniel Rosensweig As President and Chief Executive Officer

Appointment accelerates explosive growth of market leader in textbook rentals

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 2 /PRNewswire/–Chegg.com, the No. 1 online textbook rental company, today announced that it has appointed Daniel Rosensweig as its new President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Effective immediately, Rosensweig joins a company that closed $112 million in funding from Insight Venture Partners, Pinnacle Ventures and TriplePoint Capital in November. That round added to the already impressive list of investors including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Foundation Capital, Gabriel Venture Partners and Primera Capital.

“We are thrilled that Dan is joining us as our President and CEO,” said Osman Rashid, co-founder and chairman of the board at Chegg.com. “Chegg.com has been growing at an exceptional rate, and now is the time to bring in a world class leader that has successfully managed high growth consumer businesses and innovative business models. With Dan’s breadth of global business experience and passion for the consumer, we know he is the right person to lead Chegg.com through the next phase of its growth.”

Rosensweig joins Chegg.com from Activision (Nasdaq: ATVI) Publishing’s Guitar Hero franchise, where he served as CEO and president, launching Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero and DJ Hero in 2009.

A proven leader, Rosensweig was previously the Chief Operating Officer at Yahoo from 2002-2006, where he oversaw the company’s worldwide operations including its product development, marketing and advertising sales.

Rosensweig started his career at Ziff-Davis, where he spent 18 years in a variety of senior positions, including president of the Ziff-Davis Internet Publishing group, vice president and publisher of PC Magazine and president and CEO of ZDNet, which he built from a standalone Ziff-Davis company to a publicly-traded, highly-trafficked Internet network.

“The opportunity to lead one of Silicon Valley’s fastest growing companies that offers real financial value to students is unparalleled,” said Rosensweig. “Chegg.com has a powerful business model and, I believe, the opportunity to transform the textbook industry.”

The high cost of textbooks is a real social and economic problem that is burdening millions of students and their families. Chegg.com’s innovative and convenient textbook rental model is helping relieve this burden and has already saved students more than $137 million.

“We invested in Chegg.com because of its impressive business model and unique value proposition – helping students and parents save on the overall cost of education,” said Deven Parekh, managing director of Insight Venture Partners. “With Dan joining the company, we are building a powerful consumer brand on college campuses across the country.”

Is Walmart Ready to Try Web TV Again, With Vudu's Help?

Peter Kafka — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:00:10 +0000

Walmart has tried twice to deliver movies and TV shows to its customers. Is it ready to try again?

Maybe. Sources tell me Web video start-up Vudu is in “meaningful” acquisition discussions, and industry executives believe Walmart is the likely buyer.

Vudu executives declined to comment. I’ve lobbed a call into the Walmart (WMT) press center but haven’t heard back.

It’s a deal that makes some sense on paper: Vudu is one of many services that give consumers a chance to rent or buy movies over the Web, but it hasn’t gotten much traction. “It’s a beautiful product and a really great service, in need of distribution,” says a person familiar with the company.

And Walmart has tried video delivery twice before but backed away each time. Acquiring a tech team at the right price could help it make a third effort.

After trying for two years to compete with Netflix’s DVD-by-mail business, Walmart gave up in 2005 and agreed to send its customers directly to Netflix (NFLX). In 2007, with the backing of all the big studios and tech help from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), the retailer tried to launch a download service, a la Apple’s (AAPL) iTunes. But it abandoned that effort in less than a year.

Meanwhile, sources say Vudu has been seeking a buyer–in the form of either a big-box retailer or an electronics manufacturer–for some time without success. Internet executive Mark Jung ran the company for a year but left in November 2008; founder Alain Rossmann became interim CEO when Jung left and has kept the title since then.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Vudu has raised at least $21 million from Benchmark Capital and Greylock Partners. I’m told that when the company was marketing itself last fall, it was looking for a sale price of $50 million or more. But it may not have much leverage to command a premium.

Vudu started out by marketing an Internet-connected box that consumers plugged into their TVs, but that offering seemed to underwhelm customers (as well as All Things D‘s Katie Boehret). It is now focused on building that technology directly into TVs and Blu-ray players and marketing itself as a Netflix-like service.

The company’s supposed strengths are a video compression technology that makes it feasible to stream movies in high definition and a peer-to-peer architecture that cuts down the cost of delivering large files. UPDATE: Vudu reps tell me they no longer use P2P for file delivery.

Clearwire Launches Test in Silicon Valley

Eric Savitz — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:25:51 +0000

Clearwire (CLWR) today announced the launch of its a developer version of 4G service in the Bay Area. The developer version of the WiMax-based network covers “more than 20 square miles” in Santa Clara, Mountain View and “parts of downtown” Palo Alto. (Parts? Downtown Palo Alto isn’t that big; it only cover parts of it?) Clearwire notes that the service area includes the headquarters of both Intel (INTC) and Google (GOOG); the Cisco (CSCO) campus will be adding “in the coming months.” All three companies will be
“partners” in the project, the company said.

Clearwire plans to launch full service in the Bay Area in 2010.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Liveblogging the 2009 Yahoo Annual Meeting: Carol-tastic!

Kara Swisher — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:18:06 +0000

BoomTown is at the lovely Santa Clara Marriott in Silicon Valley at the 2009 Yahoo annual meeting, liveblogging the event, which should be spectacularly dull.

Here is a rundown of what went on.

10:05 am: The meeting kicked off with a little video presentation with various and sundry television talking heads saying “Yahoo” in quick succession.

Actually, this was the year during which all of those hype-magnets repeated “Twitter”–the hottest media trend these days–so many times that it has began to make my ears bleed.

But I like the spirit of trying to make Yahoo (YHOO) seem relevant and innovative again.

Then, CEO Carol Bartz (pictured below) walked onto the small stage in the California Ballroom, declaring: “Well, that made me feel good.”

Exactly when does Carol not feel good?

She explained why: “I am having a ball,” speaking about her rehaul job at Yahoo, and then thanked shareholders after what was “a tough year last year.”

The board was introduced, with most of them being present at the meeting, except for Ron Burkle and Carl Icahn.

10:12 am: General Counsel Mike Callahan comes on with the blah-blah-blah about rules and votes.

I soon started thinking of the lovely breakfast pastries outside that I passed by outside. Drat!

This year, the 12-member board, now including Bartz, was up for reelection.

Last year, as you might remember, many of those board members were under siege by shareholder discontent.

Not in 2009. A major shareholder who was unhappy last year told me there would be no protest vote.

“Carol is doing a good job,” said the investor.

Yahoo was also asking for approval of its accounting firm, Price Waterhouse.

There were several important votes before the shareholders.

One was a standard one regarding executive compensation or a “say on pay” proposal, which was introduced by an outside stockholder.

Yahoo’s board recommended against it.

Another proposal regarded changes to be made to a 1995 stock plan and to a 1996 employee stock purchase plan.

The latter was most important, because it was a request to authorize more shares for future employee options grants. It will mean a large addition to the pool–30 million more shares–if authorized.

The stock will be used to keep valuable Yahoo talent in place. Good idea.

10:23 am: The floor was then opened for comments on the proposal and ballots were collected.

I was not on the edge of my seat.

Like clockwork or an election in the former Soviet Union, the board was elected, the stock plans approved and Price Waterhouse was in.

The “say for pay” proposal? It went down in defeat.

The people have spoken!

10:29 pm: Bartz took back the stage, which immediately livened things up.

She went through the history of her coming to Yahoo, which began with former Yahoo CEO and Co-Founder Jerry Yang (pictured here) asking if she was interested in the job at a Cisco (CSCO) board meeting.

Both are on its board.

Bartz also briefly recounted her meeting with Yang at his house, although she minimized the insulting aspect of the story.

She has maximized it in other tellings–such as in an onstage interview with me recently at the D: All Things Digital conference.

The basic thrust of the story was that Yahoo was a big mess that needed the Carol treatment.

Bartz, of course, did not stress that as much today. After all, Yang was sitting right in front of her.

Bartz noted that she has been asked about two things since coming on board:

What about a deal with Microsoft? And what the heck is Yahoo anyway?

She had nothing to say about Microsoft (MSFT) and said it would be said publicly only after any such deal was struck.

Actually, she has commented about talks with the software giant publicly many times, but let’s overlook that.

The Bartz went into the definition of Yahoo. It’s simple, she said. The largest global online media company. With technology. That everyone knows. Plus email.

10:34 am: Bartz ran through the new staff she has put in place, such as CMO Elisa Steele and others.

She then moved onto the top-to-bottom reviews she has been doing of Yahoo.

Including what she dubbed “space debris,” which are Yahoo sites that should be shut down, repaired or outsourced.

Bartz’s tone? Calm and comforting and reassuring–less the live wire she usually telegraphs and more the I’m-in-charge-here-so-remain-calm vibe.

She hit all the big targets, for good measure. Front page. Mobile. And, of course, advertising.

“Yahoo has a distinct opportunity in this area,” said Bartz, referring to its online display ad business. “Advertisers come to us.”

She ended by calling Yahoo a “home,” which is one theme the company is considering using as a brand strategy in an massive overhaul it is working on.

10:45 am: The floor was open for questions.

The first was a good one. Essentially, why is Google (GOOG) such a money machine when Yahoo is not? And why are its workers so much more productive in comparison?

“We have a very different model than Google,” said Bartz. “It has a cleaner process.”

As in, it is better at vacuuming up the dough!

Bartz, who has been trying mightily to end the Yahoo/Google comparison (smart move!), did not really give an answer.

“Please, this direct comparison model to Google is not fair and is frankly not relevant,” she said.

Well, it is actually quite a bit fair and a lot relevant, but we shall also overlook that one too (for now).

10:49 am: A fan question about how it was good that Bartz has been taking the focus off of the Microsoft issue too.

He also liked that she said she would take piles of money from the software giant, though, in a search partnership deal.

Then, the questioner dived right into the weeds, with questions about the front page, such as having too much dopey entertainment news on it.

Especially all that Jon & Kate and their gazillion kids crap!

This is a favorite meme for Bartz, who proceeded to quickly one-up the question by strafing a perfect celebrity target.

“If I see another Britney Spears item, I am going to throw up,” she declared in nauseous solidarity.

She then mentioned something called a “fluffometer,” which is apparently taking care of this most pressing issue of our time–the Lindsay Lohan threat.

Will it defluff Yahoo?

Inquiring minds want to know.

10:54 am: The inevitable China question was asked, of course, a query which has always tripped up previous Yahoo management.

“It’s very easy to get crosswise,” said Bartz, trying not to get crosswise.

She mentioned a recent human rights summit Yahoo had hosted. “We have actually done a lot, but it is never enough.”

Well, actually, Yahoo and many others did not do enough previously, but Bartz was pretty much steering clear of the thorny realities of doing business in China.

Then came the “vision” question.

Actually, Bartz said it was not about vision, but about growth. “We don’t have a vision problem, we have an execution problem,” she said.

Another question was asked about Internet censorship in China.

“I’m going to go real simple here: Yahoo was not incorporated to fix China,” she said. “It’s that simple.”

Bartz said the company was not going to take on every government in the world and that its “mistake”–referring to activists jailed due to Yahoo handing over information to the Chinese government–should not hound it forever.

Well, it should, but point taken.

The next question was about Iran and how popular Twitter is. Bartz said Yahoo was also in there.

11:04 am: A questioner asked about Facebook and why the social networking site was so popular, even though Yahoo had better products.

Bartz said Yahoo was working hard on making those products more social.

The next questioner asked about whether another Google partnership deal with Yahoo could be reborn. That deal went down in defeat last year.

“Justice is Justice,” said Bartz, referring to the federal government department’s opposition to the deal.

As in, you don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind, you don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger and you don’t mess around with Uncle Sam.

The next questioner asked about why Yahoo always told shareholders at meetings like this that it was doing great every year and then didn’t deliver.

Bear with us, said Bartz.

As to selling off its Alibaba assets in China: Not a good time to sell.

11:09 am: A questioner asked whether Yahoo might buy a newspaper, like the New York Times (NYT).

Yes, that would be a good move–out of the frying pan into the fire!

I was sitting right next to one of its reporters, Miguel Helft. No comment!

Bartz then thanked the Yahoo shareholders for having faith.

As I said, it was Bartz’s first annual meeting. But, for Yahoo investors over the last several years, having a lot of faith–too often tested–kind of comes with the territory.

The Walk-Up to Yahoo's 2009 Annual Meeting (Liveblogging Starts at 10 am PDT)

Kara Swisher — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:00:46 +0000

Let’s be honest–even with the sassy stylings of CEO Carol Bartz, who will be appearing at her first Yahoo annual meeting this morning, there are few of these affairs that are even remotely exciting.

Last year’s Yahoo meeting did have a frisson of possibility, since billionaire investor Carl Icahn and Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer were fixing to put the double squeeze on the board and, especially, its then-CEO and co-founder, Jerry Yang. Also, major Yahoo (YHOO) shareholders threatened a revolt.

But, no. In the end, Carl gave in and took a Yahoo directorship, Microsoft wandered off in a corporate huff and Yang and the board managed to get dinged by angry investors, but not donged.

This year, the stock has improved, hovering in the $15 a share range, although it is still pretty moribund.

“I am too tired of Yahoo stock to be angry any more,” said one major shareholder. “It is just wait-and-see what Bartz will do now for a lot of us.”

This year, most of the same 12-member board, now including Bartz, is up for reelection and it is unlikely they will get even a bad grade. Yahoo will also ask for approval of its accounting firm (yaaaaawn).

As to other stuff going on in the ballroom of the Santa Clara Marriott–yes, it is that boring!–in Silicon Valley, there are several important votes before the shareholders tomorrow.

One is a standard proposal regarding executive compensation or a “say on pay” proposal, which will be introduced by an outside stockholder.

Yahoo’s board is recommending against it, natch, because it would apparently be a horror show if actual owners of a company got to weigh in on what execs are paid in a significant way.

Another proposal, put forward by the company and thought of internally as an uphill battle, regards changes to be made to a 1995 stock plan and to a 1996 employee stock purchase plan.

The latter is most important, a request to authorize more shares for future employee options grants, which will be a large addition to the pool–30 million more shares–if authorized. The stock will be used to keep valuable Yahoo talent in place.

Frankly, with departures continuing, Yahoo could use the share ammo.

Lastly, you can read all the good stuff–like about salaries and bonuses, deserved or, more typically, otherwise–in Yahoo’s proxy statements here.

BoomTown will begin liveblogging the annual meeting at 10 am PDT, after doubtlessly enjoying a lovely Yahoo-sanctioned breakfast pastry.

Yahoo's Scott Moore Speaks!

Kara Swisher — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:24:14 +0000

Scott Moore, who runs the Yahoo Media Group, sat down with BoomTown at the company’s Santa Monica headquarters last week, to talk about the future direction of content at the company.

While the Media unit has had its ups and downs over the years about exactly what it should be–such as the controversial Hollywood-esque Lloyd Braun strategy–one thing that Yahoo (YHOO) has consistently done well is to aggregate and distribute its own and others’ content.

So well, in fact, that May’s comScore monthly unique visitor numbers show that sites like Yahoo News (38.8 million), Sports (22.2 million), Finance (18.5 million), Entertainment News (12.5 million), TV (15.3 million) and Games (18.3 million) are the No. 1 destinations for their genres on the Web.

Overall, the media properties hit 70 million uniques monthly.

That’s probably a plus these days, given all the turmoil around the company in the wake of the Microsoft (MSFT) takeover bid and the ensuing proxy fight mess–coming to an annual meeting near Santa Clara soon!–with activist investor Carl Icahn.

The whole mess has thrown Yahoo’s future into question, demoralized employees and given the company a decidedly sad-sack image, in spite of all the powerful assets it has like its many media properties.

Moore (pictured here) came to Yahoo to work for Braun in mid-2005, after toiling for many years at–wait for it–Microsoft, running MSNBC, Slate and MSN.

(I met him back when he was at Microsoft, in fact, where he tended more to suits and ties and geeky glasses–and I have the picture to prove it–rather than his current hipster SoCal look.)

His portfolio grew when Braun’s other No. 2–Vince Broady–was re-orged out of his job last December, giving Moore purview over the whole Media Group.

In Yahoo’s latest reorganization, Moore now reports to U.S. head Hilary Schneider, in a move to better align its media and advertising sales.

Moore and his staff have tried a range of large and small experiments in original content, some of which have worked and some of which have not.

Interestingly, Yahoo has not abandoned its original content effort at all, doing newsy programming like political debates and even an online interview with President George Bush.

But the company seems to be settling into a pattern best exemplified by its recently launched Tech Ticker, which is a combination of Yahoo’s own inexpensively produced but well-done content and videos and that of outside contributors (AllThingsD content is featured there, for example).

So, as part of our exciting new “Meet the Yahoos: Survivors Edition” series, here’s a video where I chat with Moore about all that, ad monetization and more:

[ See post to watch video ]