Silicon Valley Wire

Google to Pay $20 Million to Settle Suit with AdWords Clients

Mountain View, Calif. -- Google has agreed to pay $20 million to settle a class-action suit brought by several customers of its AdWords search advertising service, who among other claims alleged the Mountain View-based company breached contracts and falsely advertised. A federal court in San Jose has given preliminary approval to the settlement, which will be considered for final approval in September. The plaintiffs alleged that Google had been charging AdWords advertisers more than their per day daily budget. "The settlement is a great outcome for the class," said Steve Susman, of lead counsel Susman Godfrey.
http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/myPRNJ.jsp?profileid=1140076&resourceid=3990964

Suntech Power to Raise $250 Million in Public Offering

San Francisco -- Suntech Power, a Chinese maker of crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) modules with U.S. headquarters in San Francisco, said on Friday that it plans to raise $250 million through a follow-on public offering. The company said that it will sell 20 million shares for $12.50 each, also granting underwriters the option to buy another 3 million shares to cover over-allotments. Suntech said that it will use the proceeds for capital expenditures, working capital and to repurchase and redeem existing securities. The company's solar products are used to generate electric power in the residential, commercial, industrial and public utility sectors.
http://www.suntech-power.com
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=192654&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1291435&highlight=

Redwood City-Based Host Analytics Raises Second Round of Funding

Redwood City, Calif. -- Host Analytics, a developer of web-based corporate and financial performance management software, said on Thursday that it has raised its second round of funding worth "multiple millions of dollars." Previous investors Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV) and Trident Capital joined new investor StarVest Partners in the round, which the company will use to expand its product offerings and implement aggressive new sales and marketing programs. "We are confident that this latest round will help us more rapidly grab market share and more quickly achieve our goal of attaining profitability," said CEO Jon Kondo. Founded in 2000, Host Analytics currently has more than 8,000 paying clients using its budgeting, revenue planning, financial consolidation and balanced scorecard tools.
http://www.hostanalytics.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Host-Analytics-Secures-Series-iw-15314642.html

San Jose-Based LogLogic Completes Deal for Mountain View's Exaprotect

San Jose, Calif. -- LogLogic, the San Jose-based developer of a platform for collecting, storing and reporting IT log data, said on Thursday that it has completed its acquisition of Mountain View-based partner Exaprotect, first announced in April. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Exaprotect's software is designed to automatically establish a link between business policies and specific network configurations, helping companies meet compliance requirements and remediate security threats. LogLogic said that the acquisition will significantly increase its market presence, increasing its customer base to more than 1,100, and add security configuration change management to its offerings.
http://www.loglogic.com
http://www.loglogic.com/news/news-releases/2009/05/loglogic-completes-acquisition-of-exaprotect/

Time Names YouTube, Palm Among "10 Biggest Tech Failures" of Decade

New York -- Time magazine has labeled San Bruno-based online video site YouTube and Sunnyvale-based PDA-maker Palm to its list of the "10 Biggest Tech Failures of the Last Decade," alongside HD DVD, Microsoft Vista and the Segway. The list, compiled by 24/7 Wall St., includes products and companies that "clearly miss the mark of living up to the potential that its creators expected." The magazine said that it included YouTube, which was purchased by Google for $1.65 billion in 2006, for thus far failing to "come up with a model to make money by either selling advertising or charging for premium content, even though it has an a enormous audience and library of content." The magazine also called out Palm, once among the market leaders in smartphones, for losing significant ground to devices such as the iPhone and Blackberry. "Palm, one of the earliest makers of smartphones, was unable to follow up its success in the personal organizer business. Analysts pointed to the fact that the company was slow to realize that consumers wanted wireless voice and data from the same device," the magazine wrote.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1898610_1898625_1898631,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1898610_1898625_1898634,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1898610,00.html (complete list)

Greylock Partners Moving Headquarters to Silicon Valley

Menlo Park, Calif. -- Forty-four years after its founding in the Boston area, Greylock Partners, one of the oldest venture capital firms in the U.S., announced that it is relocating its headquarters, including administrative and back office functions, to Silicon Valley. As part of the move, the firm has leased a new office, now under construction, in Menlo Park. Graylcok, whose current West Coast office is located in San Mateo, has been steadily expanding its West Coast presence over the past 10 years, adding partners and making investments in the area. Now, it plans to add several new positions, including partners, to its Silicon Valley office in the coming year. The firm said its Boston office will remain a key location and the firm plans to continue to invest in the area.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090519005426/en
http://www.greylock.com

Palo Alto-Based Project Playlist Buys TotalMusic

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Project Playlist, a Palo Alto-based social music site that lets users create and share song playlists, said that it has acquired the assets and employees of TotalMusic, a digital catalog management and reporting system. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. TotalMusic was an initiative conceived by Sony BMG and Universal Music Group, which acquired campus music streaming firm Ruckus last year, but then shut it down in February before launching any service. Project Playlist said that the deal will allow it to host a streaming music service, and help with e-commerce and a set of APIs. As a result of the acquisition, an undisclosed number of employees from both companies are being laid off. Project Playlist, which counts 45 million registered users, also announced on Tuesday that it has signed licensing deals with Sony/ATV Music Publishing and EMI Music Publishing.
http://www.playlist.com 
http://www.playlist.com/blog/entry/12417807875

Pleasanton-Based Bivio Networks Acquires FlowInspect

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Bivio Networks, a Pleasanton-based developer of networking systems key to network security and control, said that it has acquired Milan-based FlowInspect, a developer of software that allows customers to deploy deep packet inspection (DPI)-enabled applications and services. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The move comes five months after Bivio raised $15.8 million in a new round of funding led by Silver Creek Ventures. Founded in 2003, FlowInspect has a client list that includes service providers, national network operators and government agencies throughout Europe and the Middle East. The two companies had partnered since 2006. Bivio expects to announce specific product offerings related to the acquisition later this year.
http://www.bivio.net/
http://www.bivio.net/news_releases/051809-fiacq.htm 

Intel Capital Invests in Two Jordanian Digital Content Firms

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Intel Capital, the investment arm of Santa Clara-basedchipmaker Intel, said that it will invest in two digital content companies based in Jordan -- Jeeran and ShooFeeTV. Financial terms of the investments, from Intel Capital's $50 million Middle East and Turkey Fund, were not disclosed. Jeeran is a user-generated content site, reaching 1 million members and 7 million unique monthly visitors. ShooFeeTV is a content provider and aggregator of Arab satellite channel listings, in addition to celebrity news, pictures and video clips. The funding will be used to help both companies pursue regional growth and development plans, and to extend product offerings.
http://www.intel.com/capital
http://www.ameinfo.com/196852.html

Sunnyvale-Based Palm Says Pre to Go On Sale June 6

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Palm, the Sunnyvale-based maker of smartphones and PDAs, said that its Palm Pre smartphone will go on sale in the U.S. on June 6 with a price tag of $199, after a $100 rebate and two-year contract with Sprint. Touted as the company's answer to Cupertino-based Apple's iPhone, the Pre will be sold in Sprint stores, as well as from Best Buy, Radio Shack and select Wal-Mart stores.
http://blog.palm.com/palm/2009/05/palm-pre-availability.html 
http://www.sprint.com/palmpre

Bay Area's TechCrunch, GigaOm Head List of Top Technology Blogs

Atherton, Calif. -- Atherton-based TechCrunch, San Francisco-based GigaOM and Engadget are the top technology blogs, according to a new survey of nearly 250 technology PR professionals by PRSourceCode. The Firm's "Best of the Blogs" study also cited Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, Om Malik of GigaOM and Robert Scoble of Scobleizer at the top bloggers, and The Wall Street Journal's Business Technology Blogs, The New York Times' Bits Blog and CNET Blogs at the top blogs of tech publications. The study found that 96% of PR professionals include blogs as part of their media relations efforts at least some of the time, and 89% of those surveyed sometimes or always track, count and measure blog coverage the same as traditional publication coverage. The complete rankings in each category are available at the link below.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/New-PRSourceCode-Research-bw-15301579.html?.v=1

AOL's Platform-A Heads List of Top 25 Online Ad Networks

Reston, Va. -- AOL's Platform-A remains the nation's largest Internet ad network, based on the number of U.S. Internet users reached in April, according to new figures released by comScore. During the month, Platform-A reached nearly 176.5 million U.S. Internet users, or 91.5% of the total audience, followed by Yahoo Network (167.1 million) and Google Ad Network (164.5 million). Several ad networks in the top 25 achieved double-digit growth during the past year, led by Turn Inc. (up 121%), CPX Interactive (up 88%) and 24/7 Real Media (up 48%). "Each of the top 25 ad networks has expanded its reach during the past year," said Jack Flanagan, an executive vice president at comScore. "It almost seems that new ad networks are emerging every day." The complete rankings are available at the link below.
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/5/Top_25_US_Ad_Networks

TCS Acquires Former Autodesk Business LocationLogic

San Rafael, Calif. -- TeleCommunication Systems, (TCS), a Maryland-based developer of wireless communications technology, said that it has paid $25 million to acquire the assets of LocationLogic, which until recently was the location services business of San Rafael-based Autodesk. Under the deal, TCS paid owners Hale Capital Partners and Hale Global $15 million in cash and another 1.4 million shares of stock. The private equity firms earlier this year had acquired the company from Autodesk. LocationLogic provides infrastructure, applications, content provisioning and integration services used by carriers to deploy and maintain location-based services, such as messaging, mapping and mobile search.
http://www.telecomsys.com  
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=123361&p=irol-newsArticle_Print&ID=1290022&highlight=

Sunnyvale-Based Unity Semiconductor Raises $22 Million in Third Round

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Unity Semiconductor, a Sunnyvale-based semiconductor memory start-up, said on Tuesday that it has raised $22 million in its third round of funding from previous backers August Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Morgenthaler Ventures. An unnamed "major" manufacturer of hard disk drives also participated in the round, which increased the company's total funding to nearly $75 million. Founded in 2002 by Darrell Rinerson, a former executive at Micron Technology and AMD, Unity is in the process of completing the development of its non-volatile memory technology, known as CMOx, and integrating it into high-volume manufacturing. The company said that it expects CMOx to yield products with four times the density and 5-10 times the write speed of current NAND flash products.
http://www.unitysemi.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090519005135/en

Report: Facebook Turns Down Funding at $8 billion Valuation

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Facebook, the online social network with more than 200 million members, earlier this month turned down funding that would have valued the company at $8 billion, the blog TechCrunch reported on Tuesday, citing a source "with direct knowledge of the proposed transaction." The company reportedly turned down the $200 million in proposed funding because of a stipulation that would have required it to give up a board seat, with founder Mark Zuckerberg intent on keeping control of the board, according to TechCrunch. The blog also reported that "investors are now being told the company expects $550 million in 2009 revenue," well above previous projections of up to $400 million.
http://www.facebook.com
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/19/facebook-turns-down-8-billion-valuation-term-sheet-claims-2009-revenues-to-be-550-million/

San Francisco-Based VoxPop.TV Lands $1.5 Million in Second Round

San Francisco -- VoxPop.TV, a San Francisco-based developer of pop-culture games, said that it has raised $1.5 million in its second round of funding, led by Hearst Interactive Media. Previous investor True Ventures, which led the company's initial round in 2007, also participated. The company said that it will use the proceeds to accelerate the product and market development of its gaming platform. Founded in 2006 by Bill Armistead, Mike Derezin and Michael Hoffman, VoxPop is the developer of an online platform designed to let publishers rapidly convert their existing content into online games focused around current events and topics. Clients include CNN, Entertainment Weekly, MTV and Wired Magazine.
http://www.voxpop.tv
http://sev.prnewswire.com/entertainment/20090518/SF1892718052009-1.html

Accel-KKR Raises Bid for Mountain View-Based SumTotal Systems

Mountain View, Calif. -- The on-again, off-again acquisition of Mountain View-based SumTotal Systems by Menlo Park's Accel-KKR is now on again, the company announced on Tuesday. The maker of talent development software said that the private equity firm has raised its bid for the company from $3.80 to $4.80 a share. That trumps an offer for $4.75 announced last week by San Francisco-based Vista Equity Partners. The company still plans to solicit other offers until May 24. Under a merger agreement signed in April, it would need to pay a termination fee of $6.67 if it accepts an offer other than from Accel-KKR.
http://www.accel-kkr.com
http://www.sumtotalsystems.com/press/index.html/2009/05/19/1

Craigslist Faces Criminal Probe in S.C. Over Erotic Ads

San Francisco - The South Carolina Attorney General has launched a criminal investigation into San Francisco-based Craigslist, alleging that the classifieds site failed to remove ads for prostitution and graphic pornography by a Friday deadline, according to published reports. After meetings with a group of state attorneys general last week, Craigslist took the drastic step of eliminating its "Erotic Services" section entirely, and said that it would manually monitor all ads placed in a new "Adult Services" section. Unsatisfied, South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster gave the site his ultimatum. Replying in a blog post, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster demanded an apology from McMaster, also pointing out that many other web sites in South Carolina currently host a greater number of explicit ads than Craigslist. He also called the charges threatened by McMaster "unconstitutional and barred by federal law." "We're willing to accept our share of criticism, but wrongfully accusing Craigslist of criminal misconduct is simply beyond the pale," Buckmaster wrote in the blog post. "We would very much appreciate an apology at your very earliest convenience."
http://blog.craigslist.org/2009/05/target-practice/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10243187-93.html 
http://www.scattorneygeneral.org 
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/18/stand-firm-craig-and-jim/

S.F.-Based Scribd Debuts Digital Publishing Service for Writers

San Francisco -- Scribd, the San Francisco-based developer of a site that lets users share text documents, has launched a new service that lets publishers charge for their documents and keep 80% of the revenue, The New York Times reported. The Scribd Store also will allow publishers to set their own prices, as well as options for digital rights management (DRM). Currently, works range in price from $1 to about $5,000. By comparison, Amazon.com takes 70% of revenue from sales of works posted to its Kindle e-book store by writers, and also controls pricing. Scribd said that it is addressing the issue of users posting copyrighted works without permission by creating a database of published works to cross-reference against uploads.
http://www.scribd.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/technology/start-ups/18download.html