Roundup: IPOs slow to a crawl, China gets music sales, Facebook competition kicks off and more

Roundup: IPOs slow to a crawl, China gets music sales, Facebook competition kicks off and more

July was slowest for IPOs in five years — A measly 56 companies went public last month, raising $5.6 billion. Pretty depressing, compared to last year’s figure of 190 companies and $31.7 billion. This month is expected to be similarly slow, with a pickup coming late… Continue Reading

Roundup: Sony opens to online advertisers, Electronic Arts confirms Rupture acquisition and more

Roundup: Sony opens to online advertisers, Electronic Arts confirms Rupture acquisition and more

Here’s the latest action:

Sony opens to in-game ads
— The company is about to announce support for ads in the PlayStation 3 video game console, and in-game advertising company IGA Worldwide will be the first to announce a deal, according to Forbes and other publications. As… Continue Reading

Shawn Fanning negotiating to sell social gaming company Rupture for $30M

Shawn Fanning negotiating to sell social gaming company Rupture for $30M

Shawn Fanning, who gained fame after launching early music file sharing company Napster, is in advanced stages of talks to sell his most recent social gaming start-up, Rupture, for $30 million.

The buyer would be Electronic Arts, but unlike first reported by Techcrunch, the deal hasn’t… Continue Reading

Fanning to launch Rupture, a social network for games

Fanning to launch Rupture, a social network for games

Shawn Fanning, founder of the popular music file sharing company Napster, is back in the game with a new start-up.

This time, Fanning wants to bring social networking to popular online games like World of Warcraft, as BusinessWeek first reported.

Experts say this is a… Continue Reading