If you are having trouble viewing our video player, check out MediaBytes on YouTube.
Watch Shelly’s commentary on how the consolidation and collapse of financial institutions is bound to hurt the Advertising business.
SANDISK has rejected SAMSUNG’s offer of $5.8 billion. The cash deal was rejected on the basis that it “undervalues” SanDisk and is believed to a be an “opportunistic attempt” by Samsung to make the best of SanDisk’s slumping stock. Samsung currently pays SanDisk $440 million a year to license patents.
GOOGLE is attempting to patent floating data centers. The idea is to take a cloud computer and power and cool it by wave and tidal energy, which would also be able to move it where it is needed most. Google believes the floating center could be of great use for a large gathering or in the event of a natural disaster.
WARNER MUSIC GROUP promoted Lyor Cohen to the head of worldwide recorded music. WMG will also get a new CFO in Steven Macri and a new vice chairman in Michael Fleisher. Cohen was last seen dumping 25% of his WMG stock, which is up 32% so far in 2008.
BEST BUY’s quarterly profit is down 19%. Best Buy, which just completed a roll out of Best Buy Mobile and is about to pay $121 million for Napster, earned $202 million, compared to $250 million during the period last year. While profits were down, Best Buy managed to raise revenue to $9.8 billion, approximately 12% higher than last this time last year.
MYSPACE MUSIC is reportedly delaying its launch until it closes a deal with EMI. An EMI spokesperson confirmed that the companies are in the final stages of negotiations. If a deal is brokered, MySpace Music will have signed up all of the major recorded music companies, EMI being the lone holdout.