Social Networking Watch: News on the Social Networking and Social Media Industry

Telefónica Buys Majority At Spanish SN Tuenti

AIM GROUP - Sep 13 - The leading Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica S.A. has bought  a majority stake at the Spanish social network Tuenti for ~€70 million ($93M U.S.). Reuters reports its sources speak of an 85% participation of Telefonica in Tuenti. In buying into Tuenti, Telefonica shut down Keteke, the social network launched in 2008. According to Nielsen NetView, Facebook led the Spanish market with 14.7M unique users in July, compared with Tuenti’s 5.6M unique users. Kateke had only traffic from 198,000 users in July. FULL ARTICLE @ AIM GROUP

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AOL Buys Mobile Social Service Rally Up

AP - Sep 1 - AOL has purchased location-based social networking service Rally Up for an undisclosed sum. Rally Up started in 2009. It offers a social networking app by the same name for iPhone and iPad, and has submitted another application to Apple's App Store called FacePlant that is meant to let iPhone users see friends and start a video chat over the iPhone's FaceTime app. FULL ARTICLE @ AP

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Google Acquires Social Gaming Company SocialDeck

PC MAG - Aug 31 - It is Google's fifth acquisition this month. Google purchased Ångströ, a small startup whose work ties together news and social contacts, online retailer Like.com, virtual currency platform Jambool, and social game and app developer Slide. SocialDeck was founded in 2008 with a focus on the concept of "anywhere, anytime, anyone" gaming, according to the company's Web site. SocialDeck has produced several games, including Color Connect, Pet Hero Puzzle, Shake & Spell, and Shake & Spell 3D. The company also has a social-gaming platform known as Spark, which connects players across social games on iPhone, BlackBerry, and Facebook. In July, rumors emerged that Google would release its own social-networking site, dubbed Google Me, but the company has thus far not made any announcements. FULL ARTICLE @ PC MAG

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Digital Sky Completes Purchase Of Odnoklassniki.ru And Exits Nasza-Klasa.pl

TECH CRUNCH - Aug 31 - Internet investment group Digital Sky Technologies (DST) today formally announced the acquisition of Russian social network Odnoklassniki.ru. DST has bought out the minority shareholders in Forticom Group Limited – which it now fully owns – and Odnoklassniki, and interestingly transferred its interest in the Polish social network Nasza-Klasa.pl to the previous minority shareholders of Forticom as part of the deal. Russian newspaper Vedomosti pegged the deal size at between $14 to $28M. Founded in March 2006, Odnoklassniki.ru is said to gave generated revenues of $4M in 2009 from display advertising, paid services, contextual links and social games, with a net income of $11M in 2009. The social networking site claims 45M registered accounts, attracting 10M visitors on a daily basis. FULLL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

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Google To Acquire Start-Up Angstro

WSJ - Aug 29 - Google has acquired start-up Angstro as a part of the search giant's efforts to build a social network that can effectively compete with Facebook. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Angstro's products included apps to discover new photos on Facebook, improve Caller ID by using LinkedIn profiles and create a real-time social-address book. FULL ARTICLE @ WSJ

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MySpace Buys Threadbox

SOCALTECH - Aug 24 - MySpace has acquired Threadbox, a developer of email messaging software. Financial details of the buy were not disclosed. According to Threadbox, it sold certain assets of the firm to MySpace, and key members of the firm's team have moved over to MySpace's team. FULL ARTICLE @ SOCAL TECH

Mark Brooks: Michael Cerda ran Jangl, which was sold to Jajah, then went on to run cc:Betty. No doubt he is joining the MySpace team and should be a great addition to the team.

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Odnoklassniki.ru Founder To Sell Its Interest To DST

QUINTURA - Aug 24 - The leading Russian internet investment group, Digital Sky Technologies, which owns 80% interest in leading Russian social network Odnoklassniki.ru, is acquiring the remaining 20% stake from Odnoklassniki.ru founder, Albert Popkov. The deal could be valued at between $14M and $28M. FULL ARTICLE @ QUINTURA

China's Tencent Buys Google-backed SN

REUTERS - Aug 23 - China's largest Internet company Tencent Holdings has bought a Google-backed Chinese social networking company Comsenz for more than $60M. Tencent, which bought a 10% stake in Russian Facebook investor Digital Sky Technologies (DST) for $300M earlier this year, could be on the look out for more acquisitions as it seeks to expand its dominance beyond China. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS

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Google Acquires Like.com

TECH CRUNCH - Aug 20 - Like.com, the visual search engine, has been bought by Google. While terms of the deal were not disclosed, we’ve heard it’s valued at upwards of $100M. It’s unclear what Google wants with Like.com. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

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Facebook Bought Hot Potato

TECH CRUNCH - Aug 20 - Facebook has acquired social activity and ‘check-in’ service provider Hot Potato for about $10 million in cash. Hot Potato, which launched last November, raised a small $1.42M Series A round. The young company initially focused strongly on check-ins based around events, and later pivoted more towards check-ins based on anything you may be doing. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

Mark Brooks: The site has negligible traffic. Just 30k visits a month or so. The Hot Potato blog states that the site will go away soon. No doubt Facebook bought them for their NYC team and know-how.

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PlaySpan Raises $18 Million

TECH CRUNCH - Aug 19 - Virtual goods marketplace platform Playspan has raised $18M in Series C funding led by Vodafone Ventures and Softbank Bodhi Fund. This brings the startup’s total funding to $42M. PlaySpan powers virtual goods marketplaces across 1,000 video games and virtual world publishers and. PlaySpan-powered marketplaces lets users sell, exchange and purchase online game items, virtual goods, and game currencies for online games and apps. The platforms also allow publishers to managing global micropayments, ecommerce, and micro-transactions across 180 countries. And the company operates virtual goods storefronts on Facebook, MySpace, within games and on its standalone site. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

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Facebook Partnering With Gowalla And Foursquare For Places

TECH CRUNCH - Aug 18 - Facebook has unveiled its new Places product - the check-in utility. Facebook is partnering with Foursquare and Gowalla. Both will allow you to check-in and publish the data to your Facebook feed. Your badges and pins from each of those apps will transfer over as well. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

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Zynga Acquires Conduit Labs

VENTURE BEAT - Aug 17 - Zynga has acquired music social game maker Conduit Labs for an undisclosed price. Conduit Labs will become Zynga Boston and focus on social game development. FULL ARTICLE @ VENTURE BEAT

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Facebook CEO Zuckerberg Partnership Lawsuit - Ceglia Has Proof!

GATHER.COM - Aug 17 - It looks like Facebook may have a major controlling partner. Not only that, but the company is facing a lawsuit over the partnership. Paul Ceglia has filed a suit against both Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Ceglia made out the check to Zuckerberg three days before they signed a 2003 contract with each other. Ceglia claims that the contract means he owns 84% of Facebook. This check is the first evidence of Ceglia’s claim to Facebook. Ceglia claims that he actually signed a “work for hire” contract with the 18 year old Zuckerberg. In exchange for a $1,000 investment, Ceglia received a 50% stake in “The Face Book” project. The other 34% comes from a clause in the contract that gave Ceglia that amount if there were delays in the site’s launch. Zuckerberg's lawyers claim he never signed such a contract. Bloomberg reports that Ceglia actually has the original contract in his possession, and a copy has been attached to the complaint. On October 13 both parties will be in court in Buffalo. FULL ARTICLE @ GATHER.COM

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Tuenti Looks Like It Will Go To Telefonica For $99 Million

TECH CRUNCH - Aug 4 - Back in May we reported a rumor that Telefonica was in talks to acquire Tuenti, the ‘Spanish Facebook’, for €80M” ($104M). According to Spanish news site Expansion, the two sides have “virtually sealed the deal” whereby Telefonica will take 90% of the share capital of Tuenti, valuing the company at ~€75M or close to $99M. In October 2008, Qualitas Equity Partners paid €9.5M for 17% of Tuenti, which valued it at €55.88M. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

Google CEO Announces Zynga Partnership

TECH CRUNCH - July 29 - When asked about Google’s partnership with Zynga, Mr. Schmidt said “we haven’t announced it” but “you can expect a partnership with Zynga” in the future. Expect Google Games to be announced sometime this year. And Zynga will be one of the main game engines populating it. And eventually one of these companies will admit that Google invested in Zynga, too. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

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Zynga Confirms Softbank Investment

TECH CRUNCH - July 28 - Zynga issued a press release tonight confirming the more than month-old news of an investment by Softbank – $150M – and are announcing a joint venture to “develop and distribute social games across Japan.” Zynga didn’t talk about the other $150M they took from Google in connection with a partnership over the new Google Games property. Zynga has raised $519M in venture capital. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

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LinkedIn: Now Worth More Than $2 Billion

MASHABLE - July 28 - A new report suggests that LinkedIn’s value has surpassed the $2 billion mark, based on recent investments from outside investors. According to Bloomberg, hedge fund Tiger Global Management spent $20M to acquire approx 1% stake in the business social network. The hedge fund specifically paid $21.50 per share. That’s where the math comes in. According to SharesPost, an online marketplace for privately-held companies, LinkedIn has 105M shares outstanding. Multiply that by the $21.50 Tiger Global Management spent, and you arrive at a valuation of $2.26 billion. FULL ARTICLE @ MASHABLE

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