Category: Analysis

Analysis, Finance, Internet, Mobile

Facebook Stock (NASDAQ:FB) : Impact of Slingshot Launch and New iPad App on Facebook Financial News

Facebook wants to break the “1% Rule” of Internet culture that says a tiny fraction of users create the content for everyone else. So after a momentary leak last week, today Facebook officially launches Slingshot for iOS and Android in the US, an app where friends send you photos and videos, but you have to reply with your own before you can see them. “Slingshot” has all the same basic functions as “Snapchat,” but with a few minor tweaks here and there. Everyone is a creator and no one is a spectator”, says Product Manager Will Reuben, and that makes it different from Snapchat
.

Facebook Paper’s New Trending Section Makes It A Better Real-Time News Reader

Facebook Paper is pretty, but sluggish when it comes to news. It’s human curated sections take awhile to ingest the latest world events. But today it added a “Trending” section that highlights news stories and photos that capture the essence of most mentioned topics on Facebook. The update also lets you tap any hashtag to see a Paper-style cards of public and friends’ mentions. Paper also got a long list of other updates that Facebook says are a bunch of features you’ve asked us for”. Facebook’s IPad App Becomes An Entertainment Hub With New Games And Trending Videos Sidebar.

Facebook Targets Gamers With New iPad-Only Update

Facebook introduces a new feature specific to iPad: a right hand sidebar dedicated to trending topics, gaming, and overall discovery within the app. Over 70 percent of people who use Facebook for iPad played a Facebook-connected game in the past 90 days, so the company is helping them discover or re-engage with games through a new home page sidebar it starts testing today on its iPad app. It includes social notifications for native mobile and Facebook web games you already play, video trailers for games you don’t plus Trending videos popular with your demographic.

Alibaba Gives Details Ahead Of IPO Bigger than Facebook

Alibaba is pulling back the curtain a little bit, providing more information about its partnership structure and financials ahead of its planned initial public offering of stock. China’s biggest e-commerce company filed in May for an initial public offering in the U.S. that could top the $16 billion that Facebook and its early investors raised in the social networking company’s IPO two years ago.

Continue reading “Facebook Stock (NASDAQ:FB) : Impact of Slingshot Launch and New iPad App on Facebook Financial News”

Harvey Dyer
Biotech stock market news
Analysis, BioTech, business, Finance

BioTech Stock News in Video : Valeant (NYSE:VRX) vs Allergan (NYSE:AGN) Takeover Battle, Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) + Covidien (NYSE:COV) $45 Billion Deal in Video + GMO Experiments

A source familiar with the matter said on Saturday, Medical-device maker Medtronic Inc and rival Covidien, are in advanced talks to combine in a deal valued at $45 billion to $50 billion. The person said, asking not to be named because the matter is not public, the deal, which would allow Medtronic to be domiciled in Ireland where Covidien is based and thus take advantage of lower tax rates, could come as soon as Monday. Minneapolis-based Medtronic, which makes cardiovascular and orthopedic devices, has a market value of about $61 billion.

An executive vice-president of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc will leave the company, even as the Canadian drugmaker fends off criticism about management turnover from its takeover target Allergan Inc . Valeant confirmed late on Friday after inquiries by Reuters, Executive vice-president and company group chairman Ryan Weldon will leave. Like Chief Executive Mike Pearson, Weldon previously worked for management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. Valeant said Weldon’s departure was planned, and takes effect after it completes a $1.4 billion sale of several injectable treatments to Nestle SA.

Before residents in southern Oregon overwhelmingly voted to ban genetically modified crops last month, farmers negotiated for months with a biotech company that grows engineered sugar beets near their fields. Their goal was to set up a system to peacefully coexist, an online mapping database of fields to help growers minimize cross-pollination between engineered and non-engineered crops. But the effort between farmers and Swiss company Syngenta failed, leading to the ban. Last October, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber directed the state’s Department of Agriculture to undertake something far more ambitious than that failed mapping effort — map GMO field locations across the entire state and establish buffer zones and exclusion areas for GE crops.

Continue reading “BioTech Stock News in Video : Valeant (NYSE:VRX) vs Allergan (NYSE:AGN) Takeover Battle, Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) + Covidien (NYSE:COV) $45 Billion Deal in Video + GMO Experiments”

Harvey Dyer
Analysis, Finance, Internet, Mobile

(NASDAQ:FB) Facebook Stock News : Impact of Messenger For IOS and Mobile Ads Network

(NASDAQ:FB) Facebook has updated its Messenger app for iOS devices, giving users the ability to record and send 15-second video messages. Version 6.0 of the app also adds a feature called “Big Likes” — when you really like something, press and hold to send an even bigger “thumbs up” sign. The new version of Messenger comes after Facebook’s odd, accidental rollout of messaging app Slingshot earlier this week. That app, which was quickly pulled from Apple’s App Store, also had the ability to send short video messages to friends.

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) has announced it will track browsing activity to better serve ads on the site. The company will also give users more control over said ads. Facebook says it’s bringing more data into its interest-based ad targeting — specifically data from non-Facebook websites and mobile apps.

So even if your profile doesn’t say anything about your love of (say) soccer during the World Cup 2014, and even if you haven’t Liked any soccer-related Pages on Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), the social network can still see that you’ve visited soccer-related websites and target ads accordingly. In a blog post, the company describes this as “a type of interest-based advertising” that’s already practiced by many other Internet companies in Silicon Valley.

Facebook will now use personal information gathered from your activities elsewhere on the Web to more precisely target advertisements on the social network. Given Facebook’s extensive reach around the globe, the development has alarmed privacy advocates who are asking federal regulators review the matter. Democratic Media vowed to press Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez today on the agency’s failure to raise objections to Facebook’s new data-grabbing plan.

Continue reading “(NASDAQ:FB) Facebook Stock News : Impact of Messenger For IOS and Mobile Ads Network”

Harvey Dyer
Analysis, Finance, Mobile

(NASDAQ:EBAY) EBay’s PayPal CEO joins Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) To Lead Messaging Products (Video)

eBay said on Monday David Marcus, who has led eBay Inc’s fast-growing payments unit PayPal, will step down from the e-commerce company on June 27 to run Facebook messaging products. EBay shares fell about 2 percent in trading after hours. Marcus has led PayPal, which has 148 million active users, for the past two years during which the payments unit has moved more aggressively into stores and mobile devices.

Facebook has nabbed PayPal’s president in the clearest indication yet that the social media company will soon be venturing into online payments. the company announced in a press release on Monday David Marcus will lead Facebook’s messaging products. Marcus confirmed the move with a post to Facebook, which said “While I was in the middle of my thought process about what was next for me, Mark Zuckerberg and I got together.”

Following the acquisition of Whatsapp, Facebook is now looking for a strong strategy to actively monetize NASDAQ:FB leadership in the live messaging business. David Marcus should lead the way within the Facebook organization.

Facebook has appointed PayPal CEO David Marcus to head to its Messenger service. Not surprisingly, that’s got the tech industry abuzz over how the company will finally start making money from its Messenger app. One way is to start a money transfer service that puts Facebook head-to-head with Marcus’s last employer. Another is to create stickers. Cute digital icons are all the rage in Asia, and they could become bigger on Facebook‘s Messenger service if the right infrastructure is put in place by it and other services like Instagram

Continue reading “(NASDAQ:EBAY) EBay’s PayPal CEO joins Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) To Lead Messaging Products (Video)”

Harvey Dyer
Analysis, Finance, Internet

(Nasdaq:FB) Zuckerberg & Facebook Directors Face Pay Plan Trial (+video)

Mark Zuckerberg and other members of Facebook’s board have been sued by a shareholder who claimed a policy letting them annually award directors more than $150 million of stock each if they choose is unreasonably generous. In a complaint filed on Friday night in Delaware Chancery Court, Ernesto Espinoza said the board was “essentially free to grant itself whatever amount of compensation it chooses” under the social media company’s 2012 equity incentive plan.



This case is not related to the latest trial faced by FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg in Iran. It’s not very likely that Mr. Zuckerberg is on his way to Iran to stand trial for the complaints. Iran and the United States do not have an extradition…

Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth comes from his 28.1% equity stake in the company he founded in 2004. Facebook headquarters are based in Menlo Park, California, far from Delaware Chancery Court where Ernesto Espinoza filed his case. NASDAQ:FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan were amongst the mot generous billionnaires in Silicon Valley in 2013.

For 150M$, Mark Zuckerberg is sued for overpaying board members, together with Facebook directors, including Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.

Continue reading “(Nasdaq:FB) Zuckerberg & Facebook Directors Face Pay Plan Trial (+video)”

Harvey Dyer
NYSE TWTR Twitter
Analysis, Finance, Internet, Mobile

Market Movers : Sprint (NYSE:S) T-Mobile (NYSE:TMUS) Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) and Alibaba

Once again, Twitter, Alibaba, Sprint and T-Mobile US are the major stocks in the news today. Sprint (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile (NYSE:TMUS) have agreed on a $32 billion merger. According to a WSJ report, recent regulatory developments convinced executives at Sprint and T-Mobile US to develop their telecommunications companies with joint forces. A deal approval is under way according to Wal Street Journal sources, even though … Continue reading Market Movers : Sprint (NYSE:S) T-Mobile (NYSE:TMUS) Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) and Alibaba

John Meady