3 min read · 07 May 2010
5 min read · 07 May 2010
CNet co-founder Halsey Minor isn’t too popular in Silicon Valley or his hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia. And he's in a world of financial trouble. Among other woes, he’s embroiled in a lawsuit with the auction house Christie’s (he recently lost a case against Sotheby’s); he owes $21.6 million to creditor ML Private Finance (the Merrill Lynch affiliate will collect proceeds from the sale of Minor’s contemporary art collection next week); and he was recently identified as California's biggest tax scofflaw. Still, you have to say this for Minor: he has a sharp eye for talent.
3 min read · 06 May 2010
3 min read · 06 May 2010
2 min read · 06 May 2010
First, Apple goes all "Minority Report" on Gizmodo editor Jason Chen. Now Apple has made America's sweetheart, Ellen DeGeneres, apologize for a 20-second commercial spoof about the iPhone. Steve, seriously, c'mon.
1 min read · 05 May 2010
Reid Hoffman, founder and chairman of LinkedIn, thinks VCs need to get with the social media program -- as users. “We live in a networked world now, whether or not we like it,” he told a crowd of VCs earlier today at the annual National Venture Capital Association conference, where Hoffman -- who also became a general partner at Greylock Partners last November -- was welcomed as a peer for the first time. Recounting various conversations he’s had with investors, Hoffman told the audience, “Some VCs say, ‘I don’t use it; it’s for job seekers.” Others have told Hoffman that they use it, but he’s later discovered that they use it to accept invitations and little else. “Maybe going into the system to do that is entertaining, but it doesn’t help you get your job done,” he said. Managing not to sound like an advertorial for LinkedIn, Hoffman encouraged VCs to use the service for what it’s designed to be, including one of most efficient diligence tools available. “You can find which companies are like each other, get references -- find senior people who’ve left a company and go talk with them. Maybe you won’t get anything useful; maybe you’ll find something critical.”
2 min read · 05 May 2010
4 min read · 03 May 2010
1 min read · 02 May 2010
VC-backed tech companies have a long history of going public on the Nasdaq, but more and more are beginning to choose the once-stodgy NYSE. Examples from the past month include Calix and Max Linear. “For a long time the NYSE basically ignored Silicon Valley," says Doug Chu, the fresh-faced head of the NYSE’s Silicon Valley office (and the rest of the Western half of the country). "Most tech companies weren’t even financially able to qualify. Today, that doesn’t fit in the business model.” That Chu, 42, has the job he does is a telling indicator about how important tech has suddenly become to the NYSE. Before joining the company in 2008, Chu spent 12 years as a tech investment banker, including under Frank Quattrone at both Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse. Among the companies he helped take public were Amazon, Tumbleweed Communications and Beyond.com. A few years ago, he says, " had zero tech bankers on its IPO team. They were all capital market folks."
6 min read · 30 April 2010
