Tsavo Media To Pay Yaho...

Tsavo Media , which operates a network of roughly 300 websites and blogs as an indirect subsidiary of Canadian online publishing and advertising company Cyberplex , is being retroactively charged $4.8 million “over a reasonable time period” by Yahoo for sending the latter company’s advertisers “low quality traffic” in 2011. To boot, Cyberplex president Ted Hastings (formerly Tsavo Media’s CEO), apparently jumped ship. It’s a curious story, to say the least. Tsavo Media, once led by former MySpace CEO and previously AOL SVP Mike Jones , was acquired by Cyberplex back in May 2010, for a reported $75 million . The company’s network of Internet publications includes crappy websites like LumaGardening.com , ThinkFashion , TechSerious , WealthyGeek , Twirlit , DiscoverFame and KidGlue . Now, according to a press statement released earlier today, a Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Cyberplex has been appointed to “review the status of Tsavo Media and strategic alternatives available to create shareholder value out of that division, which is currently heavily encumbered by debt under Tsavo Media’s credit facility with American Capital”. I bet this wasn’t what they had in mind when they acquired Tsavo Media. But then again, what good could have come out of buying a crappy content generation machine anyway? Cyberplex had this to say about the sticky Yahoo situation it now finds itself in: The Company reported today that Tsavo Media has been engaged in discussions with Yahoo! to address concerns regarding the quality of traffic provided to the Yahoo! advertising base, and Tsavo Media’s reliance on Yahoo!’s traffic quality reporting system. Tsavo Media has now been informed that it will be required to pay to Yahoo! approximately $4.8 million over a reasonable time period currently being discussed, notwithstanding prior information that indicated good quality traffic at that time. This amount may be partially offset by achieving certain performance incentives and anticipated improvements in average revenues per click, but the Company noted that there can be no assurance as to how much, if any, of this payment to Yahoo! would be offset through these incentives and improvements. Translation: unless a miracle happens, we’re going to have to cough up some serious dough, and we can only hope we don’t have to pay everything all at once and in the near future. The Company noted that Yahoo! provides bi-weekly quality reports to Tsavo Media, which are extremely important to Tsavo Media in the management of its systems, analysis, forecasting and ultimately its day-to-day business decisions. Yahoo! recently communicated to Tsavo Media that notwithstanding the good quality score reports that had been provided throughout most of 2011, Yahoo! would retroactively charge Tsavo for what Yahoo! is now saying was actually low quality traffic, ranging back over many months during 2011. While the Company and Yahoo! remain in discussions on this issue, the Company now expects that Yahoo! will enforce its decision to charge back this amount citing its right to do so pursuant to the terms of Tsavo Media’s agreement with Yahoo! Translation: first Yahoo says we did a good job last year, but now they say we did a bad job, and according to the deal we agreed upon they can actually retroactively charge us for it. “We are very frustrated by the timing of these events after spending almost one year rebuilding the Tsavo organization while negotiating a settlement with American Capital”, said Geoffrey Rotstein, CEO of Cyberplex. “These events are disappointing given all of the hard work the Tsavo employees have invested to rebuild the organization and because they continue to take away and distract from all of the other positive developments and momentum being created within both Tsavo and the other divisions of Cyberplex.” Translation: Oh FFF******CCCKKK.

Arianna Wants To Put A ...

This funny little piece of email just got forwarded to me … From: “****, ***” Date: February 3, 2012 10:11:04 AM PST To: Greg Barto [@ TechCrunch] Subject: NapQuest Hey Greg It is one of our goals to get a “nap room” set-up in every location. Basically, it’s a closed room where we would put a chaise or couch, darken the windows and allow people to nap as the [sic] like. This is high on the priority list for Arianna and your office is one of the few where we don’t yet have it in place. When I visited your office on Wednesday, I looked around. It strikes me that the room (3rd office from the back corner) might be a good choice? There are currently a couple of desks in there we would need to remove. Then I would purchase the furniture and arrange to have the window glass tinted. What do you think? I just need your agreement to move ahead and I will coordinate making it happen. Let me know. Thanks, **** **** Sr. Facilities Manager, PA/SF Corporate Services, AOL Inc. 395 Page Mill Road Palo Alto, CA 94306 After making a bunch of “nap room” jokes and laughing uncontrollably like a hyperactive child around the office, I’ve finally figured out why this “high Arianna priority” (LOL) strikes me as so funny — other than the fact THAT IT IS ACTUALLY CALLED NapQuest. This is Silicon Valley, where we herald founders like Jack Dorsey for working 16 hour days (at not one, but two! companies). People at startups are never not working. Silicon Valley absolutely, positively doesn’t need a nap room because in theory we don’t sleep, let alone nap (and if we do need to nap — like in an emergency — we take that shiz home, far far away from hungry competitors!). Please Aol Mr. Sr. Facilities Manager, take that money and buy us a bunch of Diet Coke to drink late at night or that great beef jerky we used to have or a copyediting slave intern or passes to Burning Man or anything but a room specifically designed for being less productive. Oh sure, it could be worse. At least they’re not trying to install one of these things.  Update: PandoDaily founder  Sarah Lacy weighs in on the tragic potential fate of her old office. Image:  Roger Jegg – Fotodesign-Jegg.de

AOL to Lean On Right Me...

AOL sticks with Yahoo for real-time bidding in mega display ad agreement.

HuffPo Unique Visitors ...

Say what you will about The Huffington Post and AOL, their merger has given HuffPo the resources to conquer the online news aggregation business. Today HuffPo dropped some big stats about the year since its acquisition, most importantly a 47% growth of monthly unique visitors to 36.2 million. Next it’s aiming to take down CNN and the cable news industry with The Huffington Post Streaming Network , which will stream content live on the web for 12 hours a day. HuffPo proudly announced that it added 170 editors and reporters, as well as 9,884 bloggers. Omitted was the fact that it laid off 120 editorial staff members earlier this year, and that swaths of Huffington Post freelance bloggers got the axe in favor of full-time journalists. On a brighter note, the site launched 44 new verticals, including HuffPost Green, and HuffPost Gay Voices, which are topping the comScore unique visitor charts for their categories. The Huffington Post Streaming Network, or HPSN its abbreviated, will be “a never-ending talk show” to “mirror the Internet experience” says HuffPo founding editor Roy Sekoff. 100 employees in HuffPo’s NYC and LA office will work on the project which launches next quarter, and it will bump up to 16 hours of streaming a day next year. Hollywood Reporter says there will also be on-demand clips, that the live stream will include a news ticker at the bottom, and that viewers will be encouraged to video call in and participate. Regarding the potential to become a full blown cable tv network, Sekoff said “We are happy to have it happen as long as we stay true to our format. We do not want to become like everyone else.” YouTube recently announced partnerships with 100 content providers including Reuters , Slate, and SB Nation to create original web tv series. Unfortunately, you still have to make an active choice of what to watch next when you finish a video, as shown above. HPSN is another example of the tech industry disrupting the inefficiency of old world media. Right now, news junkies have to pay enormous monthly cable bills to get a constant supply of video content. Sure they could go online and bounce from news clip to news clip, but that experience is exhausting. HPSN’s relaxing, laid back experience will work on the web, but it could be a big winner on internet-capable televisions. Disclosure: The Huffington Post is owned by AOL, TechCrunch’s parent company. Image Credit: Shutterstock – Arcady

AOL Beats The Street, Q...

AOL reported better than expected fourth quarter earnings this morning. The company, which owns TechCrunch, reported revenue of $576.8 million, which is down 3 percent from Q4 2010 revenue of $596 million. Earnings came in at $0.23 per share, or $22.8 million, which is down 66 percent from $66.2 million a year ago. Analysts expected $0.16 per share. AOL says total revenue decline was its lowest rate of revenue decline in 5 years. While global advertising revenue was 10%, subscription revenue declined by 18%. AOl also saw a 15% growth in global display revenue and a 20% growth in third party network revenue. “AOL took a large step forward in Q4 and I am very pleased with the way we ended the year,” said AOL’s CEO Tim Armstrong. “Our Q4 results highlight AOL’s ability to methodically improve our consumer offering and financial performance. We continue to invest in AOL and will continue to improve our operations during 2012.” The company says that traffic was flat from Q3 2011 as “growth in the Huffington Post Media Group sites offset declines at MapQuest and AIM.” View this document on Scribd