Roundup: MySpace to launch music service, Wall Street firms crumble and more
MySpace to launch free digital music service – MySpace Music sounds interesting, but it may not quite live up to Fortune’s declaration that it “promises to be the most significant roll-out of a digital music service since Apple’s iTunes.” Since you have to purchase songs from another service like iTunes if you want to download them, this doesn’t actually sound much more useful than existing service imeem. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times has some speculation about… Continue Reading
UBS, Merrill-Lynch and others hit start-ups with securities mess
In recent weeks, we’ve been hearing reports that some banks are charging Silicon Valley start-up clients high rates to borrow funds after getting hit by the auction-rate securities mess.
One upset venture capitalist complained to me that UBS charged one of his companies a 9.1 percent interest rate – at least two full points above the going market interest rate (Libor) — after the start-up faced problems accessing money it had invested via UBS into auction-rate securities…. Continue Reading