Internet

Facebook’s ad dominance masks Snapchat threat

27 Jul 2016

The $350 bln social network's meteoric revenue growth has displaced Yahoo and others, but its 1.5 bln-plus audience is skewing older. Meanwhile, Evan Spiegel's disappearing-messaging service is a hit with the kids. Disruptors are always in danger of being disrupted.

Jack Dorsey may want to pull a Marissa Mayer soon

26 Jul 2016

The Twitter CEO's plan to get the $13 bln social-media firm to take wing has been mostly ineffective. Revenue and user growth are slowing. Now would be a good time to find a suitor. The human news feed could find a home on the island of misfit media assets Verizon is assembling.

Bankers will miss their Yahoo search queries

25 Jul 2016

It took an astounding seven separate financial advisers including Goldman Sachs and Guggenheim - and eight legal ones - to consummate the $4.8 bln sale to Verizon. A similar number helped other suitors, too. Wall Street may lament Yahoo's disappearance the most.

Yahoo fittingly closes portal on tech M&A misses

25 Jul 2016

The $4.8 bln sale to Verizon caps two decades of deals and non-deals that shaped internet history. Yahoo got lucky with Alibaba, but failed to capitalize on its dominance with Google, Facebook and eBay. Spurning Microsoft also was a mistake. It's a one-company textbook on timing.

Baidu video drama has better-than-expected finale

25 Jul 2016

The CEO of China's top search engine has scrapped a $2.8 bln bid for the group's video arm days after an investor voiced concerns. Selling the loss-making unit would have boosted margins. But shareholders had little insight into the unit's prospects or the boss's motives.

Verizon doubles down on ancient web history

25 Jul 2016

The telecom giant is spending $4.8 bln on Yahoo's core business. CEO Lowell McAdam is betting he can attract digital advertisers by meshing the internet-search firm with AOL, another 1990s high-flier Verizon bought last year. Trouble is, Facebook and Google are too far ahead.

Pokemon tempts market into playing familiar games

20 Jul 2016

Nintendo shares have soared thanks to augmented-reality hit Pokemon GO. So have firms offering Pokemon bread, burgers, cartoons, and arcades. With Nintendo stock now retreating, this looks like a classic case of markets overshooting as investors pile into a good story.

Activist faces long odds to stop Baidu video deal

20 Jul 2016

Acacia Partners objects to a bid from Baidu's CEO for the group's video unit. The U.S. fund is right to highlight potential conflicts of interest. But it is hard to see an activist victory here, given the boss's influence. Same goes for China's other internet giants.

Volatile Netflix could turn shorts’ binges to bust

19 Jul 2016

The $42 bln streaming service's shares plunged 15 pct in late trading after Monday's weak earnings. That kind of move tempts those who bet on stocks falling. But Netflix's share price, which has multiplied 80-fold since its 2002 IPO, has spiked up nearly twice as often as down.

Netflix shows its age with cringe-worthy wordplay

18 Jul 2016

The $42 bln digital-streaming service is throwing around the term "un-grandfather" to mean raising prices on customers. Tortuous rhetoric is bad enough when it emanates from Silicon Valley startups. From an established company like Reed Hastings' Netflix, it's embarrassing.

Yahoo’s goodwill flashes warning sign for bidders

18 Jul 2016

The once-mighty internet firm took a near $500 million impairment charge on its $1 bln acquisition of Tumblr. Boss Marissa Mayer's likely last earnings call serves as a red flag for potential buyers: a similarly dismal writedown awaits you, too.

SoftBank’s new ARM may tie Sprint’s behind back

18 Jul 2016

The Japanese tech and telecom titan spent $32 bln on the UK chipmaker because it's feeling good about its U.S. wireless carrier. SoftBank's confidence confounds. Sprint is fourth of four in a maturing market locked in a price war. It's a bad time to have a distracted parent.

Yahoo’s failure clarifies future for U.S. spinoffs

15 Jul 2016

The Treasury modified regulations on when splits can qualify for tax-free treatment. The move comes after the IRS declined to bless Yahoo's carve-out of its Alibaba stake. Similar deals have been on hold since. This reasonable government approach provides much-needed clarity.

EU’s Google antitrust push slower, more scattered

14 Jul 2016

The European Commission has hit the tech giant with a third charge, saying it abused search dominance on third-party websites. It also reinforced a claim, first made in 2010, that Google favored its own shopping service. A speedier, focused campaign would better serve justice.

Nintendo’s augmented shares reflect new reality

14 Jul 2016

The runaway success of the Japanese group's Pokemon app has sent its shares up more than 50 pct. That's a big vote of confidence in Nintendo's future mobile games, too. To justify the move, EBITDA will need to top 250 bln yen by 2018-2019 - more than double previous forecasts.

Pokemon GO hints mixed reality beats virtual kind

11 Jul 2016

The mobile game where users capture imaginary creatures in the real world is a smash. Within a week of launch GO may have more users than Twitter. Entirely computer-simulated worlds get the attention, but overlaying the digital on the physical may be the disruptive killer app.

Comcast and Netflix put growth ahead of gripes

6 Jul 2016

The video-streaming service helped scupper the cable provider's bid for Time Warner Cable. Now Comcast is putting its nemesis on its set-top box - with access to 22 mln potential subscribers - as it tries to build a one-stop video shop. Those are good reasons to bury the hatchet.

Facebook’s indie owners send upside-down message

22 Jun 2016

Shareholders not named Mark Zuckerberg gave more likes than frowny faces to just three members of the board. Puzzlingly that included Gawker-hunter Peter Thiel and not key executives like COO Sheryl Sandberg. It’s a head-scratcher probably explained by investors ticking boxes.

India’s unicorns limp along without foreign funds

2 Jun 2016

As capital dries up, signs of stress are emerging among the country’s few $1 bln-plus startups. Delayed hires have prompted a business school spat, while a founder ranted about valuations on his blog. At least unprofitable habits are vanishing along with unreal expectations.

Debenhams plucks new CEO from arms of its nemesis

26 May 2016

Amazon is the worst thing that could happen to stodgy old department stores. Yet that’s where Britain’s Debenhams found new boss Sergio Bucher. That makes it one of a handful of UK high-street names headed up by a digital ace. The hire sounds odd, but could be inspired.