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23 Sep 2011 19:35

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Biz: Groupon restates its 2010 revenues … by more than half

  • $713.4 million the amount Groupon originally stated as its 2010 revenues
  • $312.9 million the amount the company changed that to today … damn source
  • » How does one misstate $400 million in revenues? Good question! Let’s ask the COO, Margo Georgiadis, what she thinks happened. Oh wait, she just resigned after five months and went back to Google. Meanwhile, chief executive Andrew Mason says that her departure offers an opportunity “reorganize in a way that reflects our evolving strategic priorities.” Great answer. We learned so much from that statement. (Edit: To explain what happened, when Groupon sold a coupon, they counted the entire coupon as revenue, despite the fact they only got half of the coupon. The SEC said that was a no-no, so now Groupon looks a lot less valuable.)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jul 2011 20:31

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Politics: Two Senate Republicans budge on raising revenue. Well, kinda.

  • I think it’s clear that the Republicans are opposed to any tax hikes, particularly during a fragile economic recovery. Now, do we believe tax reform is necessary? I would say absolutely.
  • Sen. John Cornyn • Opening the door for the possibility of raising revenue … very slightly. See, Cornyn is OK with changing the tax code so as to fix loopholes in it. But he won’t willingly offer to raise taxes, no ifs, ands or buts. Sen. John McCain is in the same boat, willing to consider “revenue raisers” — without offering details. Now, this all seems like “whatever,” until you realize that this is the closest any members of the GOP have gotten to the idea of raising taxes — or any revenue at all, that is. How pathetic is it that this as far as the GOP has been willing to compromise on this issue? Why should Democrats have to do all the compromising? This isn’t even a step forward. This is like kicking your foot forward a quarter-inch by accident. This redefines movement. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Feb 2011 12:49

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Tech: Pandora used to spend more on buying music than it made

  • 119% the size of Pandora’s revenues that used to go towards acquiring content back in the second quarter of 2009
  • 48% the size of Pandora’s revenues that go towards content acquisition now – they’re profitable now source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Sep 2010 10:37

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Biz: Speaking of chocolate, Kraft’s Cadbury merger has sweet rewards

  • $1 billion in new revenue for the edible megacorp source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Aug 2010 09:55

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Biz: AOL has another big loss, caused by a “goodwill charge” this time

  • $1.06
    billion     the size of AOL’s quarterly loss, caused partly by declining advertising and partly due to a “goodwill charge”
  • $1.4
    billion     the size of that “goodwill charge,” partly due to selling Bebo for pennies on the dollar source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Jun 2010 21:22

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Biz: Three reasons why Starbucks’ wi-fi plan could be big for newspapers

  • Smart synergy USA Today’s most brilliant move was brokering deals with hotels to give free copies of the paper to patrons. It helped them build their brand. Starbucks’ deal with the WSJ could be the modern equivalent of that, except more effective.
  • People do this already If you’ve ever been in a coffee shop, you know that copies of the newspaper are already sitting around for people to read if they so choose. This is the exact same thing without the paper waste. (Or the social elements, but alas.)
  • New business model If this works, it could effectively turn into a new revenue model for the newspaper industry, one that could be replicated in bookstores, restaurants and other public meeting places. Hope the WSJ is getting paid well for this.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Nov 2009 10:51

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Biz: Time Warner’s third-quarter profits look scary and anemic

  • -38% decline in profits at Time Warner; the company’s been most hurt by publishing and online ad declines
  • -18% decline in advertising revenue at AOL, which is in the midst of rebranding itself as a news resource source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

04 Oct 2009 12:03

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Tech: Leo Laporte is evidence you can make bling on podcasting

  • $1.5 million a year in revenues for This Week in Tech, his successful post-TechTV career path
  • $350,000 a year in expenses, which include seven employees; dude’s a freaking supergenius source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

12 Sep 2009 11:43

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Culture: The porn industry is no longer recession-proof, guys

  • 30-50% estimated decline in revenues for the porn industry during the recession; stars are getting paid less, too
  • 2,000 fewer porn films are being made now than in previous years; free porn on the Internet is (in part) to blame source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Jul 2009 16:29

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Biz: Generally speaking, money is growing on trees over at Facebook.

  • Generally speaking, people who are selling their stock in Facebook now are making a mistake.
  • Facebook board member and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Mark Andreessen • stating the obvious. With money coming out its a** and more than 225 million registered users, we think you would have to have a serious brain fart (or some killer insider information) to sell any of its stock.  • source
Posted by Nathalie Heiberg • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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