WPP to buy digital agency AKQA for $540m

WPP has agreed to buy AKQA for about $540m, adding one of the largest and most highly regarded independent digital agencies to the world’s largest advertising and marketing group by revenue.

The deal, announced as the industry gathered in the south of France for the annual Cannes Lions awards, was seen as a strategic coup for Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP’s chief executive officer...

from The FT

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It would be another strategic coup if Sorrell also bought BLNX. The synergies between AKQA, WPP's clients and Blinkx's long-tail network would be absolutely huge...

Does Blinkx have anything to do with the latest MSN campaign?

MSN UK is running a big ad blitz on YouTube right now for their 'Get the best of now' campaign. It claims that MSN brings the best of the web to users by filtering everything that's out there and bringing the best to MSN users.

MSN UK: get the best of now

Which sounds - to me at least - very similar to Blinkx's 'channel' strategy of slicing web content up into groupings (lifestyle, sports etc) and then serving them up to targetted audiences who either choose to see that content or are profiled as being interested in it.

So are Blinkx involved? I have no idea - and given how good Blinkx is at communicating what it is up to (ie it isn't good at it at all, it's totally shit at it), shareholders are likely to remain none the wiser...

Why doesn't the CEO of Blinkx own a SINGLE SHARE in the company he runs?

20-May-11 / SELL / Suranga Chandratillake / 137.85p / 383,257 shares / now holding 0
20-May-11 / OPTION EXERCISE / Chandratillake / 100p / 383,257 shares / now holding 0
20-May-11 / SELL / Michael Lynch / 139.99p / 1,350,000 shares

Says it all really - Lynch and Chandratillake are happy to flog their own shares and convert options when they think the price has got ahead of itself - and Blinkx is happy to raise money from Institutional Investors at 134p (and aren't they regretting it now?), but none of the directors are prepared to buy shares in their own company at any price.

As I write the share price is about 34p and still seems to be heading south without any comment or action from Blinkx management to support it - absolutely shameful behaviour in my view. What could they do to stop the rot? Some director buys might work. Giving guidance on FY figures might help. Without any kind of target for FY revenue, how do shareholders know what success looks like? Chandratillake won't give guidance because that's just what the rank incompetent did last November when he said on the CC he was 'comfortable' with FY $124m, then delivered $114m...

One thing's for sure - let's hope Blinkx don't need to raise any more money in the markets any time soon - or ever with Chandratillake in charge - because if they try to do a fund-raising they'll be laughed at, as they deserve to be.

What I really don't understand is why the large investors aren't calling an EGM to remove the clueless retard currently running Blinkx into the ground, and installing someone who has half a clue...

A video app that's useful! From people you've heard of who have proven track records!

Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning’s Airtime Finally Launches Today

 

Airtime, the next act from Napster co-founders Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, launches to the public today.

The service is a Web application for person-to-person video calling, with an emphasis on matching people who have common interests.

It has been in the works for nearly two years, and has a clear ancestor in Chatroulette, the anonymous video chatting start-up that Fanning and Parker had advised for a time...

from All Things Digital

blinkx app available on Popcorn Hour & PopBox

Blinkx Plc

blinkx app available on Popcorn Hour & PopBox

RNS Number : 7309E

Blinkx Plc

06 June 2012

 



blinkx Delivers Premium Content to Popcorn Hour and PopBox With New App

blinkx videos are popping up on big screens through a new Connected TV app

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.-June 6, 2012-blinkx, the world's largest and most advanced video search engine, today announced that a blinkx app is now available on Popcorn Hour and PopBox, the Internet TV platforms from Syabas Technology, Inc. The app, now available in the Syabas Apps Market, allows customers to search, discover and watch high quality videos from blinkx's extensive index of professionally produced content, all from the comfort of their couch.

The Popcorn Hour and PopBox set-top boxes offer not only your own locally stored media like DVDs and Blu-Rays, but also access to the best sports, movies, videos and music the Internet has to offer. With seamless integration to movie information on the web, as well as HD and 3D capabilities, Syabas is able to create a truly immersive entertainment experience every time you turn on your TV. Through the Syabas Apps Market users can find and download apps from the most popular video, music, photo, and social networking services, including Facebook, Twitter, SHOUTcast Radio, YouTube, Flickr and now blinkx!

"Syabas' players are turning televisions into true home entertainment systems, with a user's entire media collection and their favorite bits of the Web right in one screen," said Suranga Chandratillake, CEO of blinkx. "We're delighted to add premium online video to that experience with the blinkx app, which offers popular content from our index in channel format -- from sports highlights to headlines from Hollywood, there's something for everyone."

The blinkx app for Popcorn Hour & PopBox offers customers access to a wide array of engaging channels for all tastes, including:

• Sports - an action-packed channel showcasing the latest highlights, interviews and game updates from the world of sports

• News - a breaking news channel featuring top stories from around the world, culled from the "Inform Me" channel on blinkx.com

• Entertainment - A roundup of glitz, glamour and gossip, including Hollywood's hottest stars and most shocking stories

• How To - A handy companion for all the DIYers, whether creating quirky crafts or seeking spring cleaning tips

"Our vision at Syabas is 'Big Screen Everything,' and through our partnership with blinkx we're making another great advance in that direction," said Scott Walters, Project Manager at Syabas. "With the addition of this new app to our expanding content library, Popcorn Hour and PopBox users will be able enjoy the high quality online video content that blinkx has to offer, directly on their big screens."

As the pioneer in video search technology, blinkx has built a reputation as the smartest way to find rich media on the Web. The company has signed more than 800 partners and indexed over 35 million hours of video and audio content to date. blinkx has also opened its TV API to provide partners in the fast-growing Connected TV ecosystem-from box makers and TV manufacturers, to app developers and game consoles-access to blinkx's video index.

About Syabas

Syabas Technology Inc. is the leading global innovator in networked and over-the-top media player technology. With offices in the US, Asia and Europe, they cater to an international audience. Perfect for enthusiasts, the Popcorn Hour players come with the Network Media Jukebox software that retrieves media metadata to transform users' digital libraries into interactive guides. While keeping the same media player fundamentals, the PopBox players focus on premium online content with the Apps Market giving customers access to the best sports, movies, videos, music and news the internet has to offer. For more information on their award winning Popcorn Hour and PopBox brands, visit www.syabas.com.  

About blinkx

blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world's largest and most advanced video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 35 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx's founders set out to solve a significant challenge - the growing amount of TV and user-generated content on the Web means keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx's patented search technologies listen to-and even see-video on the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world's most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com.

Press Contacts for blinkx

Tim Turpin
Sparkpr
+1 (415) 321 1894
tim.turpin@sparkpr.com

Nicole Love
Marlin PR
+44 207 869 8328
nicole.love@marlinpr.com

Charles Lytle
Christopher Wren
Citigroup Global Markets Ltd
NOMAD and Broker for blinkx plc
+44 207 986 4000

Press Contact for Syabas

Scott Walters
+1 (510) 979-0488 x115swalters@syabas.com

Kerstin Lewinski
 +49 531-129999-5klewinski@syabas.com 

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

 

END

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman Has a Lot to Say (Interview)

Today I had my first in-person sit-down interview with Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman. Over the course of 30 minutes we talked about a lot of things, and quite frankly she had a lot to say...

from All Things Digital

---------------

...including some interesting comments about the Mike Lynch/Autonomy spat...

Lynch’s break with Hewlett Packard may benefit Blinkx

Michael Lynch’s somewhat dramatic exit from Hewlett Packard last week may result in him taking a more active interest in Blinkx, the AIM listed video search engine business that was spun off from Autonomy in 2007 before the group was sold to Hewlett Packard.

from Marketing Services

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Yeah? You ask me, the only thing that's going to be good for Blinkx is a wholesale clearout of Blinkx mgmt, starting at the very top - and yes I'm talking about Chandratillake. Start with him, work down from there, get some grown-ups in charge that know about PR and comms, know how to cut the deals that Blinkx should be cutting - with Yahoo!, with Facebook, with all the other large media organisations out there that currently seem totally unaware of Blinkx's very existence - that know how to take part in a CC and answer awkward but very obvious questions without completely bolloxing it, and then see what happens. I reckon if Chandratillake was outed there would be a relief rally and you'd see a massive share price spike just on that news alone. 

The perennial questions remain:

1/ If Blinkx has the very bright future in front of it that we're told of (all evidence from the last 5 years notwithstanding, and even with the share price back below the float price), why aren't management loading up on stock?

2/ If Blinkx tech is as good as we're told, why aren't more significant companies signing up for it? If it is truly world-leading tech, Blinkx should be signing up deals of the size (and presumed importance) of AOL a couple of times a year minimum, not mickey mouse sites like Rooftop Comedy that no fucker has ever heard of.

3/ If Blinkx tech is as good as we're told, why is nobody trying to take them over, even at these 'bargain basement' prices? If someone wanted them that bad, I find it hard to believe that the likes of Blackrock and other large shareholders would turn down an offer of, say, 200p a share. HP and Mike Lynch might have big stakes, but less than 20% between them, so hardly a blocking stake. So if Blinkx is so fantastic, where are the predators?