Roundup: Yahoo gains key shareholder in proxy fight, Motorola sues former employee for giving secrets to Apple and more
Here’s the latest action:
Yahoo may live to die another day — Legg Mason Capital Management, which controls 4.4 percent of Yahoo’s outstanding stock shares, is backing Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang and the current board of directors at the company’s upcoming shareholder meeting. This is a big blow to Carl Icahn’s hostile takeover bid. Yang is so happy, he even made an internal “victory” video, Silicon Alley Insider has the transcript.
Motorola sues a former employee now… Continue Reading
Shopping site Become.com raises another $8 million
Updated
Become.com, an comparison shopping and research site, is raising $8 million in a fourth round of funding, VentureBeat has learned. The Mountain View, Calif. company confirmed the funding, but won’t provide any additional details until the formal announcement.
This news comes only three months after Become.com announced its $17.5 million third round. I’m hoping to talk to chief executive Michael Yang once the news is official, so I can find out what’s behind this. When we… Continue Reading
Become.com raises $17.5M to take on web shopping leaders
Become.com, a startup that wants to be the Google of comparison shopping, has raised $17.5 million in a third round of funding. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company seems to be fulfilling the promise we wrote about back in 2005.
At the time, we were impressed by Become.com’s “laser-like focus on (1) helping people comparison shop, while at the same time (2) using a clean search engine algorithm — free of paid placements, etc. — to help… Continue Reading
Wize.com, the search engine that ranks products
Wize.com, a San Mateo start-up, has launched yet another search engine for consumer electronics and other goods.
Wize’s promise hangs on a single, skinny thread: Its “Wize Rank” concept. Wize Rank is a numeric ranking of products (from zero to 100). Each product is rated according to how well users and reviewers judge it, along with the buzz it’s getting. It is a cute play on Google’s concept of “Page Rank.” The exact “Wize Rank” formula… Continue Reading