$54 million, or about 8 percent of Warner’s total revenue for the period. .... streaming revenue is growing quickly, but doesn’t seem to be cutting into traditional digital sales from outlets like iTunes .... the increase in digital sales was bigger than the decrease in physical sales ... YouTube.. a significant income source for some corners of the business
If you’re sharing a link on Twitter, it’s best to share it between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. East Coast time..... On Facebook .. just sharing a link is not that effective. Instead, I often post a large, alluring photo from the article and then attach a link to the image. This can generate four or five times as many clicks on an article. ..... On Google Plus, although photos work well, videos get a lot of interaction, especially YouTube clips that are playable within the feed. .... On a weekend, I will actually go to weather sites before sharing an article. If it’s raining, most people are cooped up inside, so I can post away. If it’s sunny, people are enjoying the day at the beach or park — and not looking at their smartphones in the glaring sun, or at least we can hope so — and I will wait until later in the evening to share. .... Getting on the home page of Reddit is like winning the links lottery. .... In stock market investing, a dead cat bounce is often the last fleeting bump when suckers buy, before a stock hits bottom for good. .... By Monday morning, when the sharing began to slow on Twitter, I shared it again there. That acted as a trampoline for the story and sent it back into the Twittersphere. It was temporarily visible for people who had not seen it on Sunday
It is amazing how even an established writer like Nick Bilton diligently shares and promotes what he writes. Building is not enough. You also got to sell. It is like the tree that fell in the forest. Did you hear it?
I'd not be surprised if Facebook has a similar story, although Zynga has taken a bigger beating. But this is not the end of the road. I think Zynga could reinvent itself. Markets go up, markets go down, markets go up.
a culture driven by analytics, where every move is recorded, measured and evaluated ... ..... it appears the long hours and taxing work environment is causing the inevitable — some are deciding to leave, especially as shares trade 70 percent lower than the company’s public offering. .... a “flood of resumes” in recent weeks from Zynga developers looking for jobs or trying to raise capital. .... described morale as grim, while another characterized the feeling as “anxious.” ..... During the company’s 16th all-hands quarterly meeting today, Pincus reportedly talked about the company’s future and fielded tough questions from the crowd as he usually does .... On Wednesday, Zynga’s COO John Schappert resigned after only 15 months on the job. .... two weeks ago, Zynga reported a second-quarter earnings flop that led to its stock sliding by 40 percent...... it took only three months for there to be at least three notable departures from Facebook, the social network that it works with very closely and which is also suffering from post-IPO stock woes.... a majority of the 3,000-plus employees, many are also short timers .... Without a long history at the company, it may be hard for some to feel nostalgic about staying during difficult times. .... Zynga said 80 percent of the staff has been there less than two years .... many employees have joined the company through a dozen or more acquisitions. .... tries to figure out how to create a sense of dedication among its employees .... some employees think it might be the time to pull out the checkbook and spend some of the $1 billion it raised in its IPO on retention bonuses
One lesson though is analytics is not everything.
This is about cold, hard cash. Wall Street looks at cold, hard cash.
I can't say the two - Facebook and Zynga - went IPO too early. They did not.
Mark Pincus cops to being hard-driving but insists he’s a nice guy. .... Tech entrepreneurs are happy to be compared to Steve Jobs, as long as it refers to visionary leadership and not overly demanding, egomaniacal perfectionism. .... his micro-managing tendencies stem from his passion for what his company does
For Zynga CEO Mark Pincus, the disappointing earnings confirm what he already knew: His company needs to move aggressively beyond Facebook into mobile gaming and other horizons. To that end, Pincus announced Wednesday the company plans to get into real-money gambling games in 2013. And as he told Slate’s Jacob Weisberg in a recent interview, the future success of social gaming depends on a rather simple principle: lowering the barriers to play
Pincus is betting on is that gaming will become more social, with increasing numbers of people drawn into competition via their various social networks..... Despite recent investor doubts, Pincus’ social gaming company has more than 300 million monthly active users of games ranging from Farmville to Hidden Chronicles to Zynga Poker. .... Pincus’ personal favorite is Scramble With Friends, which he plays regularly against LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. And Pincus tells Slate’s Jacob Weisberg that games like these are perfect for a world increasingly defined by multitasking, because they are “snacks you can consume in a couple of minutes.”
Even when Steve Jobs was sitting on 50 billion dollars he did not give any of that back to shareholders. Why would Marissa Mayer part ways with seven billion dollars?
Marissa Mayer, who looks to be clearing the decks in preparation for significant changes to Yahoo strategy .... looks for acquisitions .... Judiciously spent, $7 billion might be the ticket to help the once-proud Internet giant regain some of its former glory
With this seven billion Mayer should be able to grow Yahoo's market value by 20 billion over three years. But if she spends more than a billion on acquisitions I'd get suspicious.
