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Facebook has just announced that it will acquire Instagram, the popular mobile photo-sharing service for $1 billion in cash and shares.
The social networking site posted on the acquisition, its biggest yet, on its site, as well as on CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Timeline on Facebook.
Zuckerberg promised that Facebook would keep the company independent and that such an acquisition would be rare for the company, which is set to go public soon.
“This is an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users,” he wrote. “We don’t plan on doing many more of these, if any at all.”
Here is the full release from Facebook:
Comments »Facebook to Acquire Instagram
MENLO PARK, CALIF. — April 9, 2012 — Facebook announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire Instagram, a fun, popular photo-sharing app for mobile devices.
The total consideration for San Francisco-based Instagram is approximately $1 billion in a combination of cash and shares of Facebook. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close later this quarter.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, posted about the transaction on his Timeline:
I’m excited to share the news that we’ve agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook.
For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family. Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.
We believe these are different experiences that complement each other. But in order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.
That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.
We think the fact that Instagram is connected to other services beyond Facebook is an important part of the experience. We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagrams on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook.
These and many other features are important parts of the Instagram experience and we understand that. We will try to learn from Instagram’s experience to build similar features into our other products. At the same time, we will try to help Instagram continue to grow by using Facebook’s strong engineering team and infrastructure.
This is an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users. We don’t plan on doing many more of these, if any at all. But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together.
We’re looking forward to working with the Instagram team and to all of the great new experiences we’re going to be able to build together.
For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family. Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.
We believe these are different experiences that complement each other. But in order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.
That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.
We think the fact that Instagram is connected to other services beyond Facebook is an important part of the experience. We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagrams on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook.
These and many other features are important parts of the Instagram experience and we understand that. We will try to learn from Instagram’s experience to build similar features into our other products. At the same time, we will try to help Instagram continue to grow by using Facebook’s strong engineering team and infrastructure.
This is an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users. We don’t plan on doing many more of these, if any at all. But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together.
We’re looking forward to working with the Instagram team and to all of the great new experiences we’re going to be able to build together.
via NYPOST.com
Eager to marry the popularity of social gaming with real-life betting, Zynga is in talks with casino company Wynn Resorts about a potential online gambling partnership, The Post has learned.
Zynga, which sees huge revenue potential in moving from pretend to real-life wagering, needs to form partnerships with casino operators in a number of states if it is to cash in on an expected boom in Internet gambling.
Neither Zynga nor Wynn Resorts responded to requests for comment.
At least 20 states are considering legalizing online gambling after the Justice Department reinterpreted a decades-old federal law in December and found it only banned sports betting and not other forms of online gambling.
Since the DOJ move, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus has been touting the company’s prospects for parlaying its popular virtual poker game into real-life betting, calling the possibilities “mind-blowing.”
While Pincus is waxing poetic about poker, experts said the odds are stacked against the social media upstart, which will need to partner with more than just Wynn to become a major player.
Among the problems: Most of the proposed state legislation would restrict online licenses to those who already are licensed to run a state gaming operation. Wynn only operates in Nevada.
New Jersey, for instance, has a bill that passed the state Senate and is now in the Assembly that would grant Internet licenses only to those with computer servers based in Atlantic City casinos.
“Our goal is to help existing casino operators. We don’t know anything about Zynga,” state Assembly Regulatory Oversight and Gaming Committee Chair Ruben Ramos Jr. told The Post.
In Connecticut, Native American tribes have reportedly said the state would be violating its agreement giving them exclusive casino gaming rights if it issued an online license to anyone else.
Likewise, Iowa in its pending bill offers online licenses only to those already authorized to operate state gambling boats and racetracks.
US Digital Gaming founder Richard “Skip” Bronson said, in a state-by-state scenario that “the existing gaming interests are most likely the ones who will be getting the licenses for Internet gambling.”
Sources said Zynga may try to move first in the UK, where online betting is already legal, though competition is stiff.
Indeed, Facebook, which does not want to host online gambling on its own site, has held conversations with UK online bookmakers William Hill and Ladbrokes about offering Facebook users access to their sites, a source said.
Reps for Facebook, William Hill and Ladbrokes did not return calls and messages seeking comment.
Stern Agee Managing Director Arvind Bhatia said if Zynga is unable to participate meaningfully in legalized online gaming here, its shares could fall as much as 10 percent because investors have baked into the share price expectations of new gaming revenue.
“I think, given that its core market is slowing, the potential gaming revenue is important.”
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/casino_ville_bet_DzXRAXwXYo1VOasowKIzpJ#ixzz1r5VV4wNh
“China accelerated the opening of its capital markets by more than doubling the amount foreigners can invest in stocks, bonds and bank deposits as the government shifts its growth model to domestic consumption from exports.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission increased the quotas for qualified foreign institutional investors to $80 billion from $30 billion, according to a statement on its website yesterday. Offshore investors will also be allowed to pump an extra 50 billion yuan ($7.95 billion) of local currency into the country, up from 20 billion yuan….”
Comments »Did the New York Knicks try to pump up sales of playoff tickets by hiding the news that Jeremy Lin had suffered a season-ending knee injury?
That’s the accusation leveled by Frank Isola of the New York Daily News.
Isola points out that Lin had an MRI that showed he had a torn meniscus in his left knee two days before the March 28 deadline for season-ticket holders to buy playoff tickets. And such cartilage tears almost always require surgery.
Isola’s column also notes that an e-mail was sent to fans with a picture of Lin leaping in celebration.
Madison Square Garden spokeswoman Stacey Escudero said the story’s “completely false.”
Lin didn’t announce his decision to have surgery until Saturday. But the question of who knew what about Lin’s injury arose last Friday when interim Knicks coach Mike Woodson said he had “no idea” when Lin would be able to return. Woodson also said it was possible Lin wouldn’t make it back this season.
Isola writes that within an hour of Woodson’s comments the Knicks’ media relations staff put out a statement contradicting the coach.
The Knicks are 2 1/2 games ahead of Milwaukee for the final Eastern Conference playoff berth, with 13 games to go.
Comments »(Reuters) – China’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) unexpectedly jumped in March t o an 11-month highs of 53.1, the government said on Sunday, as surprisingly firm demand boosted new orders and new export orders for factories.
Analysts had forecast the PMI, which previews China’s vast factory sector before official industrial production data, to dip at 50.5.
The new orders sub-index climbed to 55.1 in March from February’s 51 points, the National Bureau of Statistics said, while the sub-index for new export orders was up at 51.9, compared with February’s 51.1.
The latest PMI reading suggests Chinese factories are not struggling as much as some reports indicated. HSBC’s Flash PMI released last week had shown factory activity slowing for the fifth straight month in March as new orders sunk to four-month lows.
Comments »NYPOST.com Exclusive
Eddie Lampert is cleaning out the closet at Sears, and he’s not feeling sentimental about Lands’ End.
The number-crunching hedge-fund tycoon — who, as chairman of Sears Holdings, has lately been scrambling to raise cash amid heavy losses at the Sears and Kmart retail chains — has quietly been shopping the Dodgeville Wis. mail-order catalog to potential buyers, The Post has learned.
Lampert, who inherited Lands’ End when he took control of Sears in 2005 by merging it with Kmart, has approached a handful of private-equity firms as he looks to raise as much as $2 billion in cash, sources said.
While it’s early in the process, sources said that Lampert is likely to tap Goldman Sachs to run the sale.
Last month, Sears said it had moved to raise upwards of $750 million by selling 11 stores and spinning off some smaller-format stores as it disclosed it lost $3.1 billion last year.
Sears has since cut a deal to sell three prize stores in Canada for $170 million.
“Everybody is talking to Sears about buying back stores,” according to a real-estate source. “It stinks of desperation.”
A Sears spokeswoman yesterday said the retailer doesn’t “comment on rumor or speculation.”
Lampert is looking to find a buyer who will license Lands’ End to Sears while pursuing growth elsewhere, possibly in Europe, according to a source.
“The idea is that Lands’ End would become something like Tommy Hilfiger,” according to the source, noting that the global brand’s clothing is licensed exclusively to Macy’s in the US.
Nevertheless, many insiders question whether the hard-bargaining billionaire could fully recover the $1.86 billion shelled out in 2002 by former Sears CEO Alan Lacy — a price tag that was widely viewed as inflated at the time.
That’s because Lands’ End — which had seen torrid growth in the 1990s as a family destination for khakis, cardigans and sensible swimsuits — hasn’t grown much under the Sears umbrella.
Sears has mostly kept mum about the brand’s financial performance in recent years, but sources said its profitability hasn’t changed much either, generating between $150 million and $200 million annually in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda.
While Sears had paid more than 10 times Ebitda for Lands’ End, today’s rocky retail environment makes a deal more likely in the $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion range, bankers said.
Lands’ End’s upscale image was an awkward fit from the beginning for Sears, whose stores have become increasingly shabby as Lampert has slashed capital spending.
While it’s rare for a brand to rebound, Martha Stewart has been successful at Macy’s despite a previous stint at Kmart, notes Michael Stone of the Beanstalk Group, a branding consultant.
“A lot of people remember Lands’ End before it went to Sears,” Stone said. “It can certainly be brought back to its former glory by the right company.”
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/lands_end_game_5p3ePLWUD0sqSpTPERJGeM#ixzz1qWI6UmuU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RvqvXhXwMbw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aJHrfSjcJoY
A JetBlue captain reportedly went berserk on a flight from JFK to Las Vegas today and was kicked out of the flight deck while the plane made an emergency landing.
JetBlue Flight 191 diverted to Amarillo, Texas after the captain was ejected from the cockpit, said a Federal Aviation Administion statement.
An Amarillo TV station quoted a passenger as saying the pilot “began running up and down the aisles screaming.”
The pilot banged on the cockpit door but was not allowed to get back in, the passenger said.
The pilot’s actions prompted a panicked flight attendant to get on the intercom and urge passengers to restrain him.
Several passengers proceeded to tackle the pilot to the floor and hold him down until the plane landed, according to the station.
The FAA statement confirmed the pilot was subdued by passengers.
JetBlue said the captain had a “medical situation” and was taken to an Amarillo hospital.
He was replaced on the flight deck by another off-duty captain who happened to be on the plane, the airline said.
The flight has 135 passengers and five crew members aboard when it departed JFK, the statement said.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/jetblue_captain_goes_berserk_on_A4AFpyyOXCuUvryqgykKwI#ixzz1qLSQv8t0
Developing…
Comments »* Magnitude 7.1 quake struck north west of Talca
* Quake not expected to cause tsunami
* Codelco says Andina and El Teniente mines operating normally
Read the rest here.
Comments »Former MF Global head Jon Corzine directly authorized the transfer of $200 million of customer funds to fill a gap in one of the firm’s accounts, according to congressional investigators.
A memo released Friday by investigators on the House Financial Services Committee quotes an email from a treasurer for the firm sent days before the investment company collapsed, saying the transfer was “Per JC’s direct instructions.” The transfer was intended to cover a $175 million overdraft in one of the firm’s accounts with JPMorgan.
The revelation comes just days before that panel’s investigatory subcommittee is set to hold its third probe into the high-profile collapse of the firm, and what role the former New Jersey governor and Democratic senator played in its implosion. The memo was first reported on by Bloomberg News.
It also appears to directly contradict testimony Corzine gave under oath to lawmakers, where he repeatedly maintained he had no idea what could have happened to supposedly segregated customer funds that went missing as the firm went under. The trustee handling the firm’s bankruptcy estimates there is an up to $1.6 billion gap between customer claims and the assets available to meet those claims.
“I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date,” Corzine told the House Agriculture Committee in December, adding later, “I certainly would never intend to direct or have segregated funds moved.”
Lawmakers are set to hear from a number of MF Global executives Wednesday, including Edith O’Brien, an assistant treasurer from the company who had refused to testify voluntarily and worked at the Chicago office responsible for handling customer accounts.
O’Brien was the author of the email, sent three days before MF Global went bankrupt, that indicates Corzine ordered the transfer of funds.
“After reviewing thousands of documents and interviewing former MF Global executives and regulators as part of our investigation, the subcommittee has concluded that Ms. O’Brien has unique, personal knowledge regarding how and why customer funds went missing,” said subcommittee Chairman Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) after lawmakers approved the subpoena. “We owe it to the thousands of customers of MF Global — the ranchers, farmers and investors who lost money — to get to the bottom of how this could have happened.”
That email also appears to support a claim made by an executive of a financial exchange monitoring MF Global that Corzine knew of an unauthorized transfer of customer funds.
“One [MF Global] employee indicated that Mr. Corzine knew about the loans that had been made from the customer segregated accounts,” said Terrence Duffy, executive chairman of CME Group. Duffy’s comments before the Senate Agriculture Committee came just minutes after Corzine wrapped up his testimony, where he reiterated he did not know where the funds went.
Comments »Cited by the Congressional Panel. Developing…
Comments »Developing…
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