Go Daddy: Never Mind That SOPA Thing, Look at Naked Danica Patrick

After losing some 37,000 domains over its support of a controversial piracy bill before Congress, Go Daddy resorts to its tried-and-true marketing weapon.
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Zynga’s Valuation Withers 30 Percent Since February

Zynga’s initial public offering remains on track to raise $1 billion, but the social games company may not be worth as much as it was hoping for.
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Silver Lake Takes on the Big Fish

Silver Lake Partners isn’t among the best-known investors in the private-equity business. But the firm could move a step closer if it pulls off a takeover — and turnaround — of Yahoo Inc.

Exclusive: Carol Bartz Out at Yahoo; CFO Tim Morse Named Interim CEO

According to sources at the company, Yahoo’s Carol Bartz is no longer CEO of Yahoo. CFO Tim Morse has been named interim CEO. The situation around the departure is unclear, but Bartz has had a rocky tenure in her 30 months at the company.
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As Yahoo Continues to Wobble, Investors (And Board) Eye Options

There are increasing signs that the going-sideways situation at Yahoo has become a problem for its board and that outside investors are pulling out their spreadsheets to explore a variety options.
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Network Solutions Fetches $560 Million

Web.com Group Inc., a provider of online marketing and website services to small and medium-sized business, has agreed to acquire Network Solutions, one of the largest Internet domain-name registrars, for about $560 million in cash and stock.

Microsoft Buys Skype

Shortly after we started Andreessen Horowitz, we, along with our partners at Silverlake Partners and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, bought Skype from eBay for slightly more than $2B. The investment generated a tremendous amount of controversy for us.

BoomTown Will Have What Marc Andreessen Is Having–Investors' Splashy Win in Microsoft-Skype Hookup

When a group of powerful investors, including Silver Lake Partners and Andreessen Horowitz, waded into the mess at Skype less than two years ago with a $1.9 billion cash investment for a big chunk of the company, it was–how can BoomTown put this delicately–a hot mess. Now–with Microsoft poised to pay over $8 billion for the Internet telephony and voice communications company–it is a lucrative one.

Confirmed: Microsoft Will Announce Acquisition of Skype Tomorrow Morning

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier tonight that Microsoft–in what would be its most aggressive acquisition in the digital space–was zeroing in on buying Skype for $8.5 billion all in. Sources told BoomTown tonight that the deal for the online telephony and video communications giant is actually done and will be announced early tomorrow morning.

Myspace Bake-Off Starts Wednesday and–Despite Reports–No Bidder in Lead (and No Zynga Interest Either)

While no one inside or outside Myspace owner News Corp. expects fireworks and giant piles of money, the tire-kicking for the long-troubled social-networking-turned-entertainment site actually starts Wednesday. That’s when about a dozen interested parties will finally get a walk-through of the books and more by management and the serious talks begin. But, said several sources, despite a variety of reports of various interested buyers, no deal is imminent with any one of them.

Skype and Avaya Sign Enterprise Deal