Google Buys JotSpot to Expand Online Document-Sharing Service
Google Inc. said it acquired closely held start-up JotSpot for an undisclosed sum, a move that could strengthen Google’s expanding services for users to create and share documents online.
JotSpot, exploiting a technology called wikis, provides free and paid services that allow individuals to jointly work on Web-based information such as spreadsheets, photo albums, calendars and contact lists. Google, Mountain View, Calif., has assembled free online word-processing, spreadsheet, email and calendar services that have some similarities with JotSpot’s offerings. Such services could win away some of the consumers Microsoft Corp. is targeting with its Office software.
JotSpot Chief Executive Joe Kraus said his company was happy to join Google because “it’s really clear they are focusing on letting people collaborate and share and work together online.” Google executives are also trying to streamline the number of products the company has, and Mr. Kraus said JotSpot would focus on how to integrate with Google’s existing services.
JotSpot, Palo Alto, Calif., has about 30,000 paying corporate customers at about 2,000 companies. Roughly 300,000 people use JotSpot’s free service, which carries some storage and other restrictions. The company, which received funding from the Mayfield Fund and Redpoint Ventures venture-capital firms, has 27 employees.
US Newspaper Circulations Slide More
Nearly every major U.S. newspaper suffered circulation declines in the past six months, according to the newspaper industry’s twice-yearly report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the latest confirmation of the difficulties facing the industry as readers flock to the Web and other outlets for news.
Average daily circulation of the 770 newspapers reporting results to the ABC dropped 2.8% on a year-to-year basis during the six months ended Sept. 30, according to an analysis from the Newspaper Association of America, an industry-trade group. The drop in circulation follows a decline of 2.5% during the reporting period ended March 31 of this year and a 2.6% decline in the year-earlier period. Average Sunday circulation at 619 of the country’s newspapers fell 3.4% in the most recent six months, according to the NAA. The circulation figures are preliminary and subject to audit by the ABC.
The circulation report, which comes on the heels of several major publishers reporting weaker ad revenue for the third quarter, is likely to reinforce concerns among investors about the industry’s prospects. Those concerns have prompted some investors to push companies such as Tribune Co. to restructure or put themselves on the market.
Top 20 US Newspaper by circulation:
Newspaper Circulation Change from Mar-Sept. 2006
1. USA Today 2,269,509 -1.30%
2. The Wall Street Journal 2,043,235 -1.90%
3. The New York Times 1,086,798 -3.50%
4. Los Angeles Times 775,766 -8%
5. New York Post 704,011 5.10%
6. New York Daily News 693,382 1%
7. The Washington Post 656,297 -3.30%
8. Chicago Tribune 576,132 -1.70%
9. Houston Chronicle 508,097 -3.70%
10. Newsday, Long Island 410,579 -5%
11. The Arizona Republic 397,294 -2.60%
12. The Boston Globe 386,415 -6.70%
13. The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., 378,100 -5.50%
14. San Francisco Chronicle 373,805 -5.40%
15. Star Tribune of Minneapolis-St. Paul 358,887 -4.20%
16. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 350,157 -3.50%
17. The Plain Dealer, Cleveland 336,939 -0.60%
18. The Philadelphia Inquirer 330,622 -7.60%
19. Detroit Free Press 328,628 -3.60%
20. The Oregonian 310,803 -6.80%
Chinese Court Orders FTSE Xinhua Index Provider To Cancel Contract
A Chinese court said FTSE Xinhua Index Ltd. violated a contract with the Shanghai Stock Exchange related to pricing data, but the index provider said the ruling would have no impact on its ability to do business.
The Shanghai Pudong New Area District Court yesterday ordered cancellation of the year-old contract and ordered FTSE Xinhua Index to pay the exchange damages of $20,000, according to Fredy Bush, co-chairman of FTSE Xinhua. Ms. Bush said that her company will appeal the decision, and that in the meantime it has an alternative way to obtain Shanghai stock prices needed to calculate the values of the SGX FTSE Xinhua China A50 Index Futures contract, a product it licenses to trade in Singapore.
Will TCL Ultimately Withdraw From Europe?
From The Wall Street Journal
TCL Will Produce Fewer Sets in France As Expansion Falters
TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings Ltd. announced plans to overhaul its European television-manufacturing operations — the latest sign of problems with the company’s expansion strategy.
The changes will result in TCL producing fewer TV sets in France and, temporarily, other European countries. Those it produces won’t be sold under its own brand but will be supplied to other companies.
Its deal in 2003 to acquire the European TV business of Thomson SA marked one of the more significant moves by a Chinese company to expand overseas in recent years and left TCL in control of the Thomson brand in Europe and the RCA brand in the U.S.
TCL opened its first factory dedicated to flat-panel TV sets only last year, well behind Sony Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Co. Earlier this year, TCL moved to secure LCDs by forging a supply deal with LG.Philips LCD Co. LCDs are used in the most popular type of flat-panel TV sets.
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