Sorry folks, we made a big mistake on this one.

This was originally a story about the asset list of bankrupt mobile entertainment network Amp’d Mobile, and how it included several pages of porn titles. A source, reliable in the past, had sent us a list and pointed us to what he said were pages and pages of porn on Amp’d Mobile’s assets list. We glanced at it: The titles included things like “Doggy Style,” “Hot Dish” (starring a young lady with cleavage), “Gold Diggers” (a series about women who like money, including one titled “Porn Stars”) and “Bush: Stinky or Sweet.” Rather than checking them out, we assumed the source was was correct, and posted. But astute readers have verified that none of it is actually X-rated porn.

So we have pulled the misleading story, and apologize to the company and to its investors for the error.

Here is the company’s list of assets for sale (pdf).

Tags:
Trackback URL

15 Trackbacks

  1. July 30th, 2007
    4:16 pm

    Mondito » Blog Archive » Amp’d Spent Money on Porno said:

    [...] Venture Beat has some hilarious news from the Amp’d Mobile fire sale… Amp’d Mobile, the mobile entertainment company that burned through $350 million in venture backing before imploding and auctioning off its assets last week, continues to baffle. [...]

  2. July 30th, 2007
    5:02 pm

    While Rome Burned, Amp’d Used Venture Capital On Porn said:

    [...] Marshall at Venture Beat has the scoop on what the Amp’d team were spending part of their $360 million in venture capital on: [...]

  3. July 30th, 2007
    5:11 pm

    TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » ローマ炎上の最中、VCマネーをポルノに遣い込んでいたAmp’d said:

    [...] まさにハリウッド映画のネタになりそうな話だが、あのAmp’dのチームがベンチャー投資でかき集めた$360M(3億6000万ドル)を一部ポルノに遣いこんでいたことが分かった。Venture BeatのMatt Marshallが抜いた特ダネ。 [...]

  4. July 30th, 2007
    5:50 pm

    Just a random blog ! said:

    [...] Marshall at Venture Beat has the scoop on what the Amp’d team were spending part of their $360 million in venture capital on: [...]

  5. July 30th, 2007
    6:01 pm
  6. July 30th, 2007
    6:02 pm

    In Brief: So how did Amp’d Mobile, the bankrupt pay-as-you-go … » TechAddress said:

    [...] Source:Valleywag So how did Amp’d Mobile, the bankrupt pay-as-you-go cellular service, burn through $360M so quickly? Looks like the company funded high-flying CEO Peter Adderton’s collection of porn DVDs. [VentureBeat] [...]

  7. July 30th, 2007
    6:06 pm

    In Brief: David Lawee, the world’s laziest marketer, … » TechAddress said:

    [...] Source:Valleywag So how did Amp’d Mobile, the bankrupt pay-as-you-go cellular service, burn through $360M so quickly? Looks like the company funded high-flying CEO Peter Adderton’s collection of porn DVDs. [VentureBeat] [...]

  8. July 30th, 2007
    6:51 pm

    Amp'd Mobile used Venture Capital to buy porn : Tech That Out said:

    [...] porn DVDs, who knows how much weren’t listed and taken home. Matt Marshall at Venture Beat has the news on what the Amp’d team were spending part of their $360 million in venture capital on: porn. [...]

  9. July 30th, 2007
    7:12 pm

    While Rome Burned, Amp’d Used Venture Capital On Porn said:

    [...] Marshall at Venture Beat has the scoop on what the Amp’d team were spending part of their $360 million in venture capital on: [...]

  10. July 30th, 2007
    11:12 pm

    How Did This Happen? : Venture Chronicles said:

    [...] Matt is wondering how investors could have put so much into Amp’d only to see the remaining assets get auctioned off for a fraction of what was spent. [...]

  11. July 31st, 2007
    1:56 am

    Wat doe je als startup met 350 miljoen? Porno! · BlueAce said:

    [...] Je vraagt je natuurlijk af: “wow, 350 miljoen, wat moet je er mee?”. Nou, porno DVD’s aanschaffen natuurlijk. Gooi daar een HD TV scherm bij, en je hebt een prachtige ontspannende kantine denk [...]

  12. July 31st, 2007
    4:58 am

    NexGen Technology Blog » While Rome Burned, Amp’d Used Venture Capital On Porn said:

    [...] Marshall at Venture Beat has the scoop on what the Amp’d team were spending part of their $360 million in venture capital on: [...]

  13. While Rome Burned, Amp’d Used Venture Capital On Porn | Tekjuice.com said:

    [...] Marshall at Venture Beat has the scoop on what the Amp’d team were spending part of their $360 million in venture capital on: [...]

  14. While Rome Burned, Amp’d Used Venture Capital On Porn | Tekjuice.com said:

    [...] Marshall at Venture Beat has the scoop on what the Amp’d team were spending part of their $360 million in venture capital on: [...]

  15. May 14th, 2008
    1:57 pm

    605ff45553eb said:

    605ff45553eb…

    605ff45553eb08a7ca79…

22 Comments

  1. July 30th, 2007
    5:08 pm

    Jenn said:

    This doesn’t look like a dvd list. It’s listed under IP, which would have me think that this is the type of content AMP’d produced in-house to sell to their customers (and for some reason, their receivers think some other company might be interested in purchasing).

  2. July 30th, 2007
    5:24 pm

    Brandon said:

    This is wrong information. You can see that this is Amp’d original programming by going to this link:

  3. July 30th, 2007
    5:24 pm

    Brandon said:

    The link didn’t show for some reason. Here it is again:

    http://ampdlive.ampd.com/WhatsHot/AmpdOriginals/GoldDiggers/GoldDiggers.php

  4. July 30th, 2007
    5:26 pm

    B said:

    The link didn’t show for some reason. Here it is:
    http://ampdlive.ampd.com/WhatsHot/AmpdOriginals/GoldDiggers/GoldDiggers.php

  5. July 30th, 2007
    5:40 pm

    Peter said:

    Nice research Matt..while Amp’d headlines are fun to read..at least try to be correct in what you are writing..

    geez..how misleading.

  6. July 30th, 2007
    6:11 pm

    Matt Marshall said:

    Good catch, Brandon. I’ve adjusted wording. Odd, though, that only the porn is left on their asset list.

  7. July 30th, 2007
    8:45 pm

    Alex said:

    Why only porn is left on their asset list? They believe that is the only thing worth selling. LOL.

  8. July 31st, 2007
    12:46 am

    Corey said:

    I see you’ve added an update that these are not DVDs, but instead intellectual property of Amp’d, mostly humor series. Even after Brandon sent you links to a couple, you still said in your comment “Odd, though, that only the porn is left on their asset list.”

    Here’s a break down of the titles on pages 7-10 of the inventory.

    Venice Beach: about life in…Venice Beach California. Looks like most stuff is shot on the boardwalk.

    Lil’ Hollywood: animated satire of…Hollywood celebrities. Amp’d gives it a mature content rating, but it’s humor and animated. Not porn.

    Lil’ Bush: this one’s aired on Comedy Central. Not porn.

    Iron Lunch Lady: Iron chef with cafeteria workers. Satire of a cooking competition show.

    Hot dish: cooking show starring a young lady with cleavage, but fully dressed.

    Fashion Sense: fashion “news” journal.

    Doggy Style: actually related to dogs.

    Bush: Stinky or Sweet: about the President of the US of A.

    Gold Diggers: about women who like money. Looks like one of the episodes is titled “Porn Stars” so that one might get racy…but it has an “All Audiences” content rating on amp’d’s web site.

    So no porn. Sorry to burst your sensationalist bubble with facts.

  9. July 31st, 2007
    12:50 am

    Corey said:

    More info with link:

    They are all amp’d original programming…amp’d owns the rights and has had some episodes produced. You can see them all listed here:
    http://ampdlive.ampd.com/WhatsHot/AmpdOriginals/ampdoriginals.php

    Again, none are porn!

  10. July 31st, 2007
    12:53 am

    Corey said:

    Link:
    http://ampdlive.ampd.com/WhatsHot/AmpdOriginals/ampdoriginals.php

    All of the shows listed in the inventory are amp’d’s original programming. Amp’d owns the rights to them and has had some episodes produced.

    None of these are porn.

  11. July 31st, 2007
    1:13 am

    Corey said:

    Feel free to ignore one of those two posts…it took a while to display and I acted very web un-savvy and posted again.

  12. July 31st, 2007
    4:08 am

    Hypotheek said:

    And everybody on their own room ;-)

    “Now, looking at the company’s list of assets for sale (pdf), we find the company spent its financing on things like 50” plasma displays.”

  13. July 31st, 2007
    5:22 am

    10668844 said:

    I would really like to hear from the VC firms that lost so much, what their explanation is? If anyone can get them on the phone, do it, please.

  14. July 31st, 2007
    6:18 am

    Matt Marshall said:

    I’ve corrected the story. It is bogus.

  15. July 31st, 2007
    6:52 am

    Rex Dixon said:

    You get a few wrong every now and again. Thanks for the correction.

    I still think that your mention of this is maybe a wake up call for all investors. This time it was bogus - What about next time?

    I’m glad that you posted the original story, and I’m hoping that some VC’s take note. This could be FOR REAL next time.

    Rex

  16. July 31st, 2007
    7:09 am

    sam kreuger said:

    Matt,
    Your credibility in the VC community is horrible. You keep making mistakes and your reporting is getting weak. Being solo in running a blog is different than being at an established firm. Stop going solo. Your quality is getting worse. You are working with the valleywags and the techrcunchs of the world. They have no editorial and professional experience or perspective. Please Matt stop the slide in quality and stop being valleywag and techcrunch they are in a league of their own - gossip and tabloid. If you go there you will be toast.

  17. July 31st, 2007
    12:01 pm

    Jo Blo said:

    The current trend of blaming poor investigative skills on your sources is boring.

    Go away.

  18. July 31st, 2007
    12:47 pm

    Steen said:

    Is there any further information of purchasing an Amp’d asset?

  19. Tom said:

    Wow, Amp’d doesn’t have porn. If you want porn for your mobile phone, go to http://www.tomshark.com I have several free access codes available; email the secret phrase “Amp’d has no porn”

  20. Brian said:

    Two seconds looking at a list of titles and I came across something titled “Anal Sex”.

    May be porn, may not, but you can’t argue that they’re putting content up there that I’m not going to be bringing up at the dinner table with my mom/grandmother/daughter-of-13/etc…

  21. eroc said:

    anal

  22. Hypotheek said:

    lot of money going on the industry! unbelievable

Add a Comment