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Google reported a 15% year on year increase in global ad revenue in Q4 2008 to $5.5 billion, despite experiencing its first quarterly profit decline in the same quarter. The internet search giant managed to buck the continuing downward trend, as ad revenues from its own website increased from $3.1 billion in Q4 2007 to… Continue reading Google’s global ad revenue up 15% in Q4

Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev has acquired London’s Evening Standard for £1 from Daily Mail & General Trust. The deal will see a new company, Evening Standard Ltd, established that will own the paper, with Lebedev taking a stake of 75.1% and DMGT subsidiary Associated Newspapers becoming a minority shareholder with 24.9%. Associated will continue to… Continue reading Ex-KGB spy buys Evening Standard

Financial Times owner Pearson has announced an upbeat trading update for the newspaper group, ahead of the release of its preliminary results for 2008 in March. Pearson said that Financial Times Publishing “has produced good sales and profit growth despite the slowdown in the advertising market in the fourth quarter”. Marjorie Scardino, chief executive, said:… Continue reading Positive trading update for Financial Times Group

Alexander Lebedev, a former KGB agent, is set to buy London’s Evening Standard in a deal that will see him become the first Russian oligarch to own a major British newspaper. Lebedev is reportedly poised to take a controlling 76% stake of the struggling title, while the Evening Standard‘s parent group Daily Mail & General… Continue reading Ex-KGB spy poised to buy Evening Standard

Yahoo has confirmed the appointment of Carol Bartz as its new chief executive and has also announced that its president, Susan Decker, will be stepping down after almost nine years with the company.Former Autodesk boss Bartz has been given a seat on the Yahoo! board, and is set to take up her new position at… Continue reading Yahoo! names Carol Bartz as new chief

The Christmas period significantly boosted a number of retail websites, with the top 10 sites seeing an average 37% year on year increase, according to new data by Nielsen Online. Online retailers in the UK witnessed an impressive rise in unique users during Q4 compared with the Christmas shopping period in 2007, with Amazon averaging… Continue reading Christmas boosts retail websites

Blyk has announced that its UK CEO Shaun Gregory is stepping down and will be replaced by the free mobile network’s current co-founder and executive director, Antti Ohrling.Gregory’s departure, which is thought to be due to personal reasons, comes as the company plans a organisation restructure and adds an extra €40 million in funding to… Continue reading Shaun Gregory steps down as Blyk’s CEO

Daily Sport publisher Sport Media Group has posted a pre-tax loss of £18.2 million for the year to the end of July, after stripping £20.7 million off the value of its assets, due to the current market conditions. SPMG was forced to write down the value of Sport Newspapers, which it bought for £50 million… Continue reading Sport Media Group records £18.2m pre-tax loss

Lord Carter, the new minister for communications, technology and broadcasting, is expected to recommend the relaxation of rules on local media ownership in order to stop further job losses. One of the main recommendations in Lord Carter’s interim Digital Britain report, due to be published this month, will focus on helping newspaper groups by allowing… Continue reading Local media ownership rules expected to be relaxed

Talks have broken down between Tiscali and BSkyB after the two sides were unable to reach an agreement about the satellite broadcaster’s takeover of the internet business. It is understood that Tiscali was holding out for a figure in the region of £600 million while Sky was considering an offer of around £450 million. In… Continue reading Talks break down between Sky and Tiscali