Latest VatorNews stories

• Facebook and Uber in talks for integration on Messenger

  by Steven Loeb, July 24, 2014

  A deal would allow Messenger to start making money, while Uber would get access to 200M users

  "We've said in a number of comments that we think some of these newer initatives are going to ramp over time. We really do mean that, and we're serious about doing this the right way and building up these ecosystems," he said. "And I think for some of these other apps, we're just going to build all the infrasturure that we need to make it something thats scalable over time, rather than trying to have

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• Facebook shares hit record high of $76 after stellar Q2

  by Steven Loeb, July 24, 2014

  Facebook's advertising revenue hit $2.68 billion, with 62% coming from mobile

  It seems so long ago now that analysts were fretting and worrying over Facebook's long-term monetization, and wondering if, and how, the company would ever really make money. Now that Facebook has figured out a sustainable revenue stream, one that is growing rapidly, the company is riding higher than ever. Shares of Facebook rose to a record high of $76.74 a share on Thursday, a gain of over 7%, a

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• Blogging your way to a Series A

  by Alon Girmonsky, July 24, 2014

  Content built up over time will eventually equal leads

  When I founded BlazeMeter, I decided to postpone venture funding until I had determined my initial product and market fit. I was stringent when thinking about what that meant: in the end, I would need to have a real product with real customers to get financed. But, customers were buyers I had no prior connection to. So, I needed a way to connect with them and establish BlazeMeter’s name in the

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• Twitter has a big diversity problem: 70% men, 59% white

  by Steven Loeb, July 24, 2014

  How does Twitter compare to Facebook, Google and Yahoo?

  You may have already heard, but Silicon Valley has a diversity problem. And it’s a pretty big one at that. And yet, it seems to me that Twitter has become the scapegoat in some ways for that. I hear all the time about Twitter being mostly white, and mostly men. Maybe that's because it took the company so long to finally appoint a woman to its board of directors, but is the company really any

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• Zuckerberg: Facebook will never be a payments company

  by Steven Loeb, July 23, 2014

  Even though it is testing a buy button, Facebook will remain a partner to other payments companies

  "We've said in a number of comments that we think some of these newer initatives are going to ramp over time. We really do mean that, and we're serious about doing this the right way and building up these ecosystems. And I think for some of these other apps, we're just going to build all the infrasturure that we need to make it something thats scalable over time, rather than trying to have this be

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• Facebook comes out on top, beats in Q2 earnings report

  Facebook reports $2.91B in revenue, with EPS of 42 cents, for the second quarter

  In the earnings report, Facebook posted revenue of $2.91 billion for the quarter, beating Wall Street's estimates of $2.81 billion, and up % from $ billion in the second quarter of 2013. Adjusted earnings ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• StubHub users beware! Over 1,000 accounts hacked!

  Hackers were able to gain access to StubHub through other breaches and existing malware

  This time the victim was StubHub, the ticket reselling service owned by eBay. Using data breaches at other websites, and malware on the customers' computers, hackers were able to gain access to over 1,000 ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• LinkedIn picks up marketing platform Bizo for $175M

  LinkedIn makes around 20% of revenue from advertising, but may be looking to increase that number

  That is not to say that advertising isn't important at all, though. In its last quarterly earnings report, advertising revenue was the company's second biggest revenue source. And now, perhaps, LinkedIn ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• LinkedIn experiments with a "find friends" feature

  LinkedIn would likely add the feature to its Connected app, allowing users to find contacts nearby

  The idea of finding friends nearby has always struck me as a little... creepy. Like, I get the idea behind it, and I can see how it would be cool to see that someone you know is a block away. But, at the ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Social media nostalgia app Timehop raises $10M

  Timehop shows users what they were doing on social media on this date in history

  There has been a big movement toward privacy in social media over the last couple of years, with the rise of apps like Snapchat and Whisper and Secret. I get why this is appealing: it's hard to feel secure ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• App monitoring service AppDynamics raises $120M

  With the new funding, AppDynamics is now valued at over $1 billion

  It's hard to overstate the importance of app performance management. People have very, very little patience for malfunctioning, or just downright slow, applications, which can be absolutely deadly to the ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Cloud service younity partners up with GoPro

  Younity will organize GoPro videos, and allow users to instantly playback their videos on mobile

  I've never had the opportunity to use a GoPro camera, but I have heard that they are quite amazing. That they are the kind of camera that makes people feel like they need to get out there and do something ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Tango launches $25M gaming fund to expand platform

  Tango also hires GREE's Jim Ying as VP of game publishing

  Mobile messaging is hot right now, but one of the more noteworthy apps in the space, Tango, the company that raised $280 million in March, is looking to branch out. Specifically it is looking to expand ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Facebook finally adds ability to save content for later

  Users can now store the pages, links and places that they don't have time for right away

  When I'm looking at Facebook, I am constantly finding myself scrolling over videos and links that I simply don't have time to watch right now. Now, in a move that it I believe should have made, literally, ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Facebook referral traffic rockets 150% in one year

  While all other sites saw traffic decrease this past quarter, Facebook was the only one that gained

  Due to the fact that social media companies don't actually have a real, tangible product to sell, they have to rely on other sources for money: mainly advertising and referral traffic, or how good they ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• EU and Finland blast Microsoft's huge Nokia cuts

  The massive job cuts could affect up to 1,100 people who live and work in Finland

  Microsoft's big job cuts announcement late last week is not sitting too well with more than a few people. I mean, obviously the people who are losing their jobs, but also the Finnish government, and the ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Unbabel raises $1.5M for its translation marketplace

  Investors include Matrix Partner, IDG Ventures, Google Ventures, and others

  Unbabel, a marketplace for translation services, announced it's just landed a $1.5 million Series Seed round from some pretty notable VCs, including Matrix Partners, Google Ventures, IDG Ventures and many ...
  By Bambi Francisco Roizen
  

• The 10 biggest LA exits in the last five years

  Companies like Oculus and Maker Studios have been purchased, while others went public

  While the Bay Area is, and probably always will be, the biggest tech hub in the world, plenty of other cities have made a name for themselves as well, including Los Angeles. With our upcoming Vator Splash ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• How does DogVacay make money?

  DogVacay takes a 15% cut out of every transaction that goes through the site

  More recently, though, I've been introduced to the wonderful world of dogs, as just about everyone in my girlfriend's family seems to have one. Now I see just how much work they are! Every time her sister ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• TubeMogul shares shoot up 64% in NASDAQ debut

  The East Bay-based video ad-tech company prices IPO of $7 per share, down from original $11 to $13

  That's quite a welcome, despite the fact that the company and its bankers decided to lower the initial price to $7 from the initial $11 and $13 price-point they hoped to attract from investors during their ...
  By Steven Loeb
  
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