If you have been an investor in technology IPOs in recent months you’ve done well. Starting in April, and really gathering momentum this summer, there has been a slew of tech companies that leapt through the public market window including Changyou, Rosetta Stone, OpenTable, and most recently Emdeon.
Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel. Mark Twain’s advice was apt in its time but sounds downright quaint these days. The ink-stained publishing world is battling against companies like Google and Yahoo that sell ads via any Internet-friendly gadget. And we know how that fight is going: The buy-ink-by-the-barrel types are struggling.
Nature abhors a vacuum, but apparently not in Silicon Valley, where it may not be easy to fill some very prominent vacancies. Right now you’ve got Jerry Yang abdicating at Yahoo, and Microsoft is looking for someone to run its online division. And there are persistent rumors that another huge job might be opening up at Google.
If you haven’t heard of Spore, you will. Although it’s not due out before midyear, Spore is already the most eagerly awaited computer game of 2008–the recipient of more than half-a-dozen critics’ awards even before its release. That’s in part because of the oversized reputation of its creator, Will Wright, one of the world’s most famous and successful game designers. Starting in 1989 with his breakthrough computer game SimCity and following with titles that include SimEarth, SimAnt, SimLife, and SimFarm, Wright’s franchise of simulation entertainments has generated more than $2.5 billion in revenue. His biggest hit, the Sims, is the best-selling computer game of all time.
There was talk of monopoly in Silicon Valley Friday morning as news of Microsoft’s $45 billion offer for Yahoo spread at Internet speed via email, instant message and mobile phone. But the huge irony in Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo is seen by many here as just what is needed to fend off another monopolist in the making: Google. “We would prefer to see a healthy Microsoft and Yahoo,” says Geoff Yang, a venture capitalist with Redpoint Ventures and an early investor in Internet-based companies. “But I am starting to get worried about Google’s dominance, and in the absence of three healthy companies, I’ll take two. Competition is good for us, the industry and customers.”
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