MySpace today fired 500 of 750 employees internationally. This is on top of the 500 people they fired from a staff of 1,000.
I know the idea of starting a company and opening offices is growth, revenues, job creation and profits, but you cannot encourage entrepreneurship in an environment where laying people off is impossible and so punitive to the employer.
Unlike our recent domestic restructuring announcement, what we are announcing today is a formal proposal we intend to implement, rather than an executed plan. As required by laws in countries where we operate, we will not implement the plan until we have consulted with potentially affected employees. continue reading...
I want to run this man’s fan club, seriously.
Russia’s answer to Michael Arrington, search engine Quintura’s CEO Yakov Sadchikov comes across some interesting figures on the Russian online advertising market, estimated at $260 million from January to June 2008. This is up 73% year-over-year, according to a report from MindShare Interaction. More interestingly is the fact that contextual advertising accounted for $161 million (or 62% of total online advertising spending), while display advertising accounted for $99 million (38%) of total online spending.
The business daily Kommersant breaks down the top 10 online display advertisers in Russia, including: continue reading...
Is this math correct? Who knows… but YouTube and Google’s legal team sure is busy these days:
Gestevision Telecinco SA, a Mediaset unit that owns Spain’s most-watched TV station, sued YouTube last month for copyright infringement and illegally posting its video content on the Web. continue reading...
The Louvre has sold its name to an Abu Dhabi group that will recreate a satellite museum in the desert:
The Abu Dhabi initiative has stirred an uproar in French art circles. “It’s scandalous,” says Didier Rykner, an art historian who has collected more than 5,000 signatures—including some former top Louvre curators—on a petition opposing the plan. Critics say such megadeals make it harder for less wealthy museums to obtain art on loan. Loyrette says the Louvre still lends individual works free of charge, but for exhibits drawn exclusively from its collection, “we ask for a fee, which is perfectly normal.” continue reading...
Question from reader…
Q: Do you think Microsoft and other investors invested in Facebook at a lower valuation than the reported $15B? continue reading...
I think Europe could surpass the US ad market if for no other reason that different markets means different languages and different ad campaigns. In other words, it’s harder to find efficiencies when you have to duplicate the same message across 10 or so sub-campaigns.
According to IAB, Europe added 4B Euros year over year, I do wonder what factor the USD/Euro exchange rate had on this: continue reading...
The US is notoriously behind Asia and Europe when it comes to all-things-mobile, so upon learning that online video has grown 178% in one year in the UK… I wonder, how much has wireless video grown?
Probably much, much more. It’s a shame: wireless companies are shaving in the dark, largely. I am a firm believer that the Web promise will turn into reality… wireless? Not so sure. I’ve never seen so much money being pissed away with nothing to show for it. continue reading...
Yesterday, BubbleGeneration’s Umair Haque set off a storm by suggesting that tech blog networks are peaking. I agree that the signal-to-noise ratio in the technology blog network space has gone down considerably. While many of these blogs are hiring from traditional media, established publications are firing back with their own blogs and blog networks. CNET for one has been very aggressive, even appointing blogger Dan Farber to become editor in chief at News.com (of course, Farber is so much more than a mere blogger).
In fact, in the past year, many of these technology blogs have gone from being a one-site, one-man operation to a multi-site property hiring large operational and editorial teams. In a few instances, companies have even raised considerable funding. The quest to build an audience and generate ad revenues has pitted many of these sites in a competitive and cooperative dynamic that might indeed suggest that most of these sites have peaked. continue reading...
A month ago, I got an email from Robin Wauters asking us to help him promote Plugg, a Web 2.0 Conference focusing on Europe.
A social media consultant, Wauters was one of the bloggers of the now-defunct Blognation blog network. As we exchanged some thoughts on the conference, I asked him a series of questions on Europe and decided to publish it below. continue reading...
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