Palm investor puts his mouth where his money is
Unless he was misquoted, Elevation Partners co-founder Roger McNamee suggested today that all iPhone owners are going to switch to the Palm Pre when their contracts expire.
“You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two- year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone,” McNamee told Bloomberg today. “Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later.”
Wow, that’s a bold statement. One that will be repeated over and… Continue Reading
iTunes gets the new U2 single “Get On Your Boots” first
When Elevation Partners, the Silicon Valley private-equity firm that U2 lead singer Bono is a founder of, recently put $100 million into phone maker Palm (it now owns 39 percent of the company), speculation was that there was a falling out between Bono and Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. Apple, which once made a special U2-branded iPod, of course makes the Palm Pre rival, the iPhone. But U2 launched its new single today “Get On… Continue Reading
E3 perspective: An interview with John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts
John Riccitiello has been driving a lot of change at Electronic Arts. He was president and chief operating officer of the big independent video game publisher from 1997 to 2004. Then he left to co-found Elevation Partners. He engineered a deal to invest $400 million in acquiring a majority stake in the game development firms, BioWare and Pandemic. While he was gone, EA suffered lackluster financial performance and its games were often mocked as dull… Continue Reading
EA buys Pandemic Studios/BioWare for $860 million
Video game-maker Electronic Arts has purchased VG Holdings, owner of video game makers Pandemic Studios and BioWare for $860 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Elevation Partners, a Silicon Valley private equity firm had invested $300 million in VG Holdings in 2005; this is its first deal.
Notably, founding Elevation Partners partner John Riccitiello is currently chief executive of EA and was previously chief executive of VG Holdings — and before co-founding Elevation, he was chief… Continue Reading
Palm sells 25 percent stake to Elevation for $325M — Apple ghost follows
Palm Inc., the smart-phone maker, will reportedly sell a 25 percent stake to a private equity firm Elevation Partners, of Silicon Valley, for $325 million.
The move, reported by the WSJ, comes after two years of a sideways trading stock (see chart below), a recognition that Palm faces ever increasing competition, and indecision about what strategy it should pursue.
It also comes after a former employee of Palm, Gibu Thomas, argued in a column at VentureBeat recently… Continue Reading
Riccitiello leaves Elevation, becomes Electronic Arts CEO
John Riccitiello, a co-founder of Silicon Valley technology buyout Elevation Partners, has left to return to Electronic Arts.
He will be chief executive of the video game company, after formerly being chief operating officer.
The departure follows the exit from Elevation Partners of executive in residence Leslie Bider, who heads to ITU Ventures, according to the WSJ (sub required).
Here’s the Mercury News story.
Roundup of best Silicon Valley news: YouTube, FON, Ning & more
Catching up:
YouTube is making $7.5 million a month –Everyone has been guessing whether YouTube is profitable, given the high costs it faces hosting all its videos. This guy says YouTube is doing $7.5 million a month in ads, and is profitable.
FON, the company that wants to encourage people to share their WiFi routers, having problems? — The general manager of US division has left. We’re beginning to think this Fon idea my be too clunky to fly…. Continue Reading