Accordig to CEO Craig Dubow, Gannett, pubslisher of USA Today & USA Today.com is not for sale. Dubow made the affirmation in a company memorandum to Gannet Employees.
There has been widespread speculation amongst Wall Street Finanical Analysts that Gannett is looking to go private.
In his memo, Dubow wrote “None of the bloggers called and checked with us before speculating that we were preparing for a sale,” “We are not.”
A Wall Street Journal blog entry, said changes to some employee compensation plans suggested the possibility the publisher could be up for sale.
Gannet however, said it made the change to comply with tax codes and the move did not indicate it was entertaining any offers.
Dan Lyons Is The Name, Playing Fake Steve Jobs Was The Game.
This past Sunday, the blogger calling himself “Fake Steve Jobs,” revealed himself as an editor of Forbes magazine.
Dan Lyons’ identity was finally revealed , after a New York Times reporter found resemblances between the Fake Steve Jobs Blog and Lyons’ published work. When asked if he was behind the Blog, Lyons told the Times he had started the fake blog last year to poke fun at the lack of candidness he saw in the growing number of CEO blogs that were attracting media attention. (Although this is certainly not the case with Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban’s Blog or Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz’s Blog)
The LA Times reported that many corporations have discovered that putting their executives in front of a keyboard can generate positive buzz for the company. But if Chief Executives say or do the wrong thing on a blog it can become a public relations headache and possibly trigger litigation.
Although executives generally have far more latitude than their employees to discuss what goes on at their companies and in their respective industries, there are limits to what executives can and should say online. As Fake Steve Jobs said, as a result of these limits, they are often less than candid when offering up a thought or opinion.
Many companies have clamped down in recent years on blogging by workers, even firing disgruntled employees who have broadcast negative comments or revealed proprietary information. Lyons’ posing as Fake Steve Jobs, allowed a high powered CEO to say exactly what he wanted to say, without actually saying it…sort of.
In a statement, Lyons said “I was hoping to stay anonymous for a while longer but on the other hand I knew I couldn’t stay anonymous forever. It had to happen at some point.” “I hope that it doesn’t ruin the fun of the blog that people know who’s behind it.
Lyons’ Blog has gained a loyal readership while keeping Silicon Valley laughing, interested, and intrigued with its candid analysis of business and technology trends.
Lyons often called Linux fans ”freetards” and he sometimes called journalists ”filthy hacks” before signing off with the Indian salutation “namaste.” He also poked fun at Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs’ reputation for being what some consider a demanding, arrogant jerk.
We hope to see Lyons continue to Keep It Real!
GigaOM.com is a San Francisco-based technology news blog published by GigaOmniMedia Inc. Founded by former Business 2.0 writer Om Malik, GigaOM delivers technology news, business analysis and opinions to a monthly audience of 500,000+ readers.
GigaOm’s media network has seen substantial growth over the past year and now includes 5 blogs, a weekly video show, and a job board. That growth has created a need for additional operational leadership. In a move designed to free up Om Malik to concentrate primarily on editorial duties, GigaOm has hired seasoned exec Paul Walborsky as its new COO.
Walborsky will focus on non-editorial aspects of the business to includes sales, operations, conferences and events, etc.
Walborsky, who has both operational and deal experience, was most recently a managing director at Hercules Technology Growth Capital. He has also held senior positions at Lehman Brothers, ING Barings and Swiss Bank Corp.
A YouTube meets AutoTrader sort of project has won big backers, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Red McCombs, co-founder of Clear Channel Communications.
The billionaire moguls are backing a tiny venture-backed company which has ambitious plans to feed a growing demand for high-definition-like Internet video for everyday e-commerce uses, such as consumer car sales, its founders said.
“I like what they’re doing. It’s definitely a step forward,” said Wozniak, the Silicon Valley wunderkind who formed Apple with entrepreneur Steve Jobs in 1976. “Woz,” said he signed on as an adviser to the company to “give them ideas that come into my mind.”
Hotswap.com emerged from graduate computer science research into digital “compression” technology that its founders say can make common digital camera movie clips mimic high-definition television on Web sites.
Luke Thomas, a 21-year-old former UC Berkeley grad student and Hotswap chairman, said the often-fuzzy videos uploaded by amateurs onto YouTube.com and similar Web sites can be transformed by Hotswap’s technology. Hotswap has applied for patents for the technology, he added.
“All the technology we see on the Internet is 1994 technology,” said Thomas. “You will see e-commerce take off with the advent of high-quality video.”
Formed just three months ago with the backing from the venture finance firm Kinsey Hills Group, Hotswap.com has already won contracts with AutoNation Inc.
[Via PCMagazine]
Bloomberg reports that MySpace.com co-founder Brad Greenspan made a new proposal to invest $600 million in cash and stock in three joint ventures with Dow Jones & Co. and said he has received interest from five “credible” investor groups.Greenspan sent a letter to the board of New York-based Dow Jones seeking materials for due diligence, and his investors can meet this week “to firm investment commitments,” he said in a statement distributed today by PR Newswire.
Greenspan has made several proposals to Dow Jones since Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. made its $5 billion acquisition offer public in late April.
He led an investment group that offered $60 a share for a 25 percent stake in Dow Jones, according to a press release he issued June 20. Earlier this month, Greenspan said the investment group would lend $400 to $600 million to the controlling Bancroft family to buy out members who wish to sell.
Greenspan has not disclosed who would provide funding for his proposals.
Murdoch’s News Corp. acquired MySpace parent Intermix for $580 million in 2005. Last year, Greenspan filed a lawsuit against MySpace and demanded a federal probe of the buyout, which he said defrauded shareholders. A judge dismissed the suit.
Amid accusations that CEO Mark Zuckerberge of Facebook Inc. stole key ideas for its popular social networking site, the company announced that it has hired YouTube’s former chief financial officer Gideon Yu.
Yu became CFO of YouTube in September, helping to negotiate the video-sharing web site’s $1.6 billion sale to Mountain View-based Google Inc.
The hiring of Gideon Yu on Tuesday may be a sign that the Palo Alto company intends to remain independent. Facebook has already rebuffed a $1.4 billion dollar offer from Yahoo…and in a recent interview CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company has no plans for an IPO at the moment, but hinted of a possible public offering in the future.
Yu He succeeds Michael Sheridan. The company didn’t say why Sheridan was replaced.
