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Sumner Redstone has often shown a deft hand in his media investments. Gaming just hasn’t been his thing. Through 2005, he acquired about 87% of Chicago area gamer, Midway.  The average purchase price was probably close to $8 a share but, over several years of buying, he paid as much as $20 to $24 a share.  In the time since, the company has failed to perform or thrive.

In the quarted ended Sept 30, Midway reported a $76 million loss on revenues of just $36.7 million. Friday, the stock finished at just 38cents a share. With other issues lingering, Redstone hit the eject button. Friday, he reached an agreement to divest his stake entirely – at a fire sale price.

According to regulatory filings, Redstone, his family’s theater holding company, National Amusements Inc., and Sumco Inc. (a company he formed in 2005 to shift debt obligations created in acquiring Midway stock), agreed to sell their 87.2 percent interest in Midway to private investor Mark Thomas.

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Black Friday is usually a day of bargain shopping. The gift giving comes later. This year, for Yahoo shareholders, a small present came a little early.  Friday, in an SEC required “insider” filing, Yahoo director and major shareholder, Carl Icahn, disclosed he’d acquired an additional 6,778,804 shares of Yahoo stock in three transactions between Monday and Wednesday. The news, which many took as a positive forward-looking omen, helped elevate Yahoo’s stock price.

Trying to look behind Icahn’s decision making, some are speculating his timing may indicate a new CEO announcement is on its way sooner than later.  Others have posited different theories. 

Assuredly, one certainty is he’s not trading on actual knowledge of a CEO succession plan. Though he’d be in the know as a board member, trading on that kind of insider advantage is illegal.  

So maybe, this is a sign Icahn believes liquidity will come sooner now that Jerry Yang has lost his grip?  Or perhaps it could be a signal Icahn is hunkering down for the long haul?

Trying to get inside Icahn’s head has never been an easy task.   

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When a company goes public it inherits the responsibility of regularly disclosing its financial performance in SEC mandated filings.  Usually this burden is a willing sacrifice in exchange for new monies or the liquidity of a public trading market.  Every now and again, however, a private company can be forced to register and report even when it’s not in their near-term plans.  Facebook has just managed to avoid stepping into this minefield.

The securities law, specifically Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act, requires companies to register if the number of shareholders or the value of the corporate assets exceed certain thresholds.   Per a rule that went effective December 7, 2007, these thresholds for employee stock plans were set at 500 option holders, or assets in excess of 10 million (SEC Rule: http://www.sec.gov/rules/final/2007/34-56887.pdf).

Facebook’s stock plan was apparently nearing the 500 person boundary. 

Facebook’s attorneys petitioned the SEC for an exemption.  In a letter first reported by BusinessWeek, the SEC agreed to provide it.

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Chalk up another Web 1.0 movie delivery service to the fire-sale files.  Last year, it was Blockbuster stepping in to salvage Movielink for pennies on the dollar, $6.6m  to be precise.  This year it’s Sonic Solutions sweeping up CinemaNow for even less.

Announced Thursday, the media authoring software company known as a leading maker of DVD and Blu Ray encoding tools is buying the assets and assuming the liabilities of the movie download service for a reported $3m.

Cinema Now was founded in 1999 to offer online movie rentals.  As studios became more accepting of Internet delivery mechanisms, downloadable sales were added to the mix.    CinemaNow was the first website to offer pay-per-view movies from major studios. They were also the first broadband distributor of HD content.

Investors including Menlo Ventures, Cisco, Transcosmos and Lions Gate fueled the company with more than $40m in funding.  A fifth round totaling more than $20m was closed in 2006. 

The investors money helped build both the delivery mechanism and a catalog of TV and film titles more than 6,000 strong but it wasn’t enough to buy a sizable audience.  Consumers never really embraced the service.  Click to Read More

Today, hundreds of Microsoft shareholders converged on Bellevue’s Meydenbauer Center to hear the state of their union.  Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates talked Azure while  shareholder votes for board seats were tallied.  Yahoo wasn’t  a subject on the annual meeting’s agenda, but the prospect of a new Microsoft bid for the struggling web giant was on the minds of many.

The very first question of the open Q&A put it out there:  “What’s happening with Yahoo?” Is Microsoft still interested?   Steve Ballmer answered assuredly.  Click to Read More

Is there an Massive Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) with a Hollywood connection in Ubisoft’s future plans?

The convergence of Hollywood with the video game industry is a recurring theme.  Traditional studios like Paramount and Disney have expanded their game offerings.  Publishers like EA, have signed up talent agents and sought out visual storytellers to partner with; striking development deals with luminaries like Spielberg and up and comers too.  French publisher Ubisoft is as much a part of this process as any studio. 

Arguable, Ubisoft may even be blazing part of the trail.   In the past couple years, the company has made significant strides to align itself with the movie (and TV) industry.   Click to Read More

When a couple moves in to live together, the old wagon-wheel coffee table or never worn clothes get tossed.  Some things just don’t fit together. Others have to go to make room for the new.   The same process applies to corporate mergers.  Overlapping jobs or assets that don’t match the new coupling get discarded.

Last July,  when Activision and Vivendi Games combined to form Activision Blizzard there was no doubt some Vivendi Games properties would meet this unpleasant end.  Reviews were already being conducted.  Staff “realignments” were in the works.  “Options being explored.”

The questions were what would go, when and, for the lucky few to find new homes – where.

Today, the fate of Vivendi’s Sweden based Massive Entertainment studio was finally revealed.  It will be let go, but saved. Subject to terms not disclosed, Ubisoft has agreed to buy the critically acclaimed studio.

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