Citibank launches first...

Citibank launched today the first branded group to appear on LinkedIn, said Vanessa Colella, managing director and head of North America marketing at Citi.

Facebook ad revenue up ...

Facebook reported a drop in net income to $205 million in the first quarter (Q1) of the year, compared to $233 million in the same quarter last year, according to the company's amended Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) filing on April 23, 2012.

VCs Invested $5.8B In 7...

Venture capitalists invested $5.8 billion in 758 deals in the first quarter of 2012, according to a MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). The report shows that after a strong fourth quarter 2011 , VC investment activity for the quarter fell 19 percent in terms of dollars and 15 percent in the number of deals compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 when $7.1 billion was invested in 889 deals. While the Life Sciences (biotechnology and medical device industries combined) and Clean Technology sectors saw decreases in both dollars and number of deals in the first quarter, there were double-digit percentage increases in dollars invested in the Consumer Products and Services, and Telecommunications industries. Additionally, investments into companies in the Later stage of development experienced an increase, rising 11 percent and accounting for 40 percent of total dollars invested during the first quarter of 2012. The Software industry received the highest level of funding for all industries with $1.6 billion invested during the first quarter of 2012, but still saw a 18 percent decrease in dollars, compared to $2 billion invested in the fourth quarter. The Software industry also had the most deals completed in Q1 with 231 rounds, a 12 percent decrease from the 262 rounds in the fourth quarter of 2011. Internet-specific companies received more than one billion dollars for the eighth consecutive quarter with $1.4 billion going into 188 deals, which is 3 percent lower in dollars and 23 percent lower in deals than the fourth quarter of 2011 when $1.4 billion went into 244 deals. Eleven of the 17 MoneyTree sectors experienced decreases in dollars invested in the first quarter, including Semiconductors (43 percent decrease), IT Services (26 percent decrease), and Industrial/Energy (14 percent decrease). The Consumer Products & Services sector experienced a 78 percent increase during the quarter due to the largest deal of the quarter ($238 million) occurring in that sector. Deals By Stage: Seed stage investments fell 9 percent in dollars and 41 percent in deals with $141 million invested into 53 deals in the first quarter. Early stage investments fell 31 percent in dollars and 24 percent in deals with $1.6 billion going into 290 deals. Seed/Early stage deals accounted for 45 percent of total deal volume in Q1, compared to 53 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011. The average Seed deal in the first quarter was $2.7 million, up from $1.7 million in the fourth quarter. The average Early stage deal was $5.6 million in Q1, down from $6.1 million in the prior quarter. First-time financing (companies receiving venture capital for the first time) dollars decreased 22 percent to $783 million in Q1, the third lowest level in survey history. And, the number of deals fell 28 percent to 195 deals in the first quarter, the lowest level since the third quarter of 2009. First-time financings accounted for 14 percent of all dollars and 26 percent of all deals in the first quarter, compared to 14 percent of all dollars and 30 percent of all deals in the fourth quarter of 2011. Companies in the Software, Media & Entertainment, and IT services industries received the most first-time rounds in the first quarter. The average first-time deal in the first quarter was $4.0 million, up slightly from $3.7 million in the prior quarter. Seed/Early stage companies received the bulk of first-time investments, garnering 81 percent of the deals. Expansion stage dollars decreased 32 percent in the first quarter, with $1.7 billion going into 207 deals. Overall, Expansion stage deals accounted for 27 percent of venture deals in the first quarter, a slight uptick from 26 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011. The average Expansion stage deal was $8.3 million, down from $10.9 million in the prior quarter. Investments in later stage deals increased 11 percent in dollars and 13 percent in deals to $2.3 billion going into 208 rounds in the first quarter. Later stage deals accounted for 27 percent of total deal volume in Q1, compared to 21 percent in Q4 when $2.1 billion went into 184 deals. The average Later stage deal in the first quarter was $11.0 million, which decreased slightly from $11.2 million in the prior quarter. The slump isn’t particularly surprising-other reports have shown a similar trend for the first quarter. But global managing partner of PWC’s VC practice, Tracy Lefteroff says that the improvement in the public markets during the first quarter could lead to an increase in VC dollars spent in the second quarter. “The overall decline in investment in the first quarter underlies several shifts occurring in the venture space,” said Mark Heesen, president of the NVCA. “The industry continues to contract and consolidate which is beginning to manifest itself in fewer dollars being invested in fewer deals. Yet, we feel that the overall impact will be positive for the asset class as only the best entrepreneurs and technologies will be funded at rational valuations.” He adds that with the exit market and M&A improving, VCs could be pouring more money into first time deals in the coming months.

eBay Beats; Q1 Revenue ...

eBay just reported stronger than expected first quarter 2012 earnings today. Revenue increased 29% to $3.3 billion, compared to the same period of 2011. Non-Gaap earnings came in at $0.55 per diluted share. Analysts expected earnings of $0.52 per share on revenue of $3.15 billion. Net income came in at $570 million for the quarter. “The first quarter was a strong start to the year for us with momentum continuing in our Marketplaces, PayPal and GSI Commerce businesses,” said eBay President and CEO John Donahoe. “We believe that innovation in retail today is technology driven, and consumers are embracing smarter, easier, better ways to shop. We are enabling commerce in this new retail environment, supporting and partnering with sellers of all sizes and giving consumers worldwide the ability to shop anytime, anywhere, for whatever they want.” PayPal has a stronger quarter, ending the period with 109.8 million active registered accounts, a 12% increase over the first quarter of 2011. PayPal’s revenue increased 32% year over year to $1.3 billion. PayPal’s net total payment volume grew 24% year over year to $34 billion. eBay’s core marketplaces business saw gross merchandise volume (GMV) excluding vehicles increase 12% year over year to $16 billion. Revenue increased 11 percent to $1.7 billion. Sold items increased 17% compared to the first quarter of 2011. U.S. GMV excluding vehicles increased 13% year over year and Fixed price GMV, which represented 64% of total GMV in the first quarter, grew 18% globally year over year. International GMV excluding vehicles increased 11% year over year to $10 billion. And downloads of eBay’s suite of mobile apps surpassed 12 million in the first quarter and 78 million globally since the launch of mobile in the third quarter of 2008. eBay expects to generate $8 billion in mobile volume transacted in 2012, and PayPal expects $7 billion in mobile TPV in 2012. The company’s GSI business saw $237 million in revenue for the first quarter and generated $715 million in global ecommerce (GeC) merchandise sales during the quarter. Same store sales grew 26% year over year. eBay raised guidance for the year, expecting net revenues in the range of $13.8 billion to $14.1 billion with GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $1.91 – $1.96 and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $2.30 – $2.35. After a solid Q4, the first quarter of 2012 has actually been a busy one for eBay, especially with respect to PayPal. In terms of product, PayPal has been ramping up its payments options for large and small merchants. Over the past three months, the payments giant debuted an in-store payments platform for large retailers; PayPal Here , a card swiper that attaches to a mobile phone for small businesses; and hinted at a brand new PayPal wallet. And there have been a number of leadership changes as well at the e-commerce company. After former president Scott Thompson departed for the CEO role at Yahoo, PayPal named David Marcus , the former CEO and founder of mobile payments startup Zong and PayPal Mobile VP, as President (PayPal acquired Zong last year for $240 million). X.commerce CTO Neal Sample left eBay to join American Express and PayPal also recently lost product VP Sam Shrauger (to Yahoo) as well as Alyssa Cutright (to Square). Earnings Call Notes: John Donahoe: PayPal’s in-store payments product will be rolled out to additional retailers in 2012.

Google Beats In Q1 2012...

Google just released earnings this afternoon, reporting revenues of $10.65 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012, an increase of 24% compared to the first quarter of 2011 ($8.58 billion). But minus traffic acquisition costs, Google pulled in $8.14 billion in revenue. Non-GAAP EPS in the first quarter of 2012 was $10.08. GAAP Net income came in at $2.9 billion, compared to $1.80 billion in the first quarter of 2011. The company was expected to report a profit of $9.64 a share, on revenue of $8.1 billion (minus traffic acquisition costs). “Google had another great quarter with revenues up 24% year on year,” said Larry Page, CEO of Google. “We also saw tremendous momentum from the big bets we’ve made in products like Android, Chrome and YouTube. We are still at the very early stages of what technology can do to improve people’s lives and we have enormous opportunities ahead. It is a very exciting time to be at Google.” The company also announced a new stock structure, revealing that the Board of Directors unanimously “approved a stock dividend proposal designed to preserve the corporate structure that has allowed Google to remain focused on the long term.” Google-owned sites generated revenues of $7.31 billion, or 69% of total revenues, in the first quarter of 2012, which is a 24% increase over first quarter 2011 revenues of $5.88 billion. Google’s partner sites generated revenues of $2.91 billion, or 27% of total revenues, in the first quarter of 2012, a 20% increase from first quarter 2011 network revenues of $2.43 billion. Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $5.77 billion, representing 54% of total revenues in the first quarter of 2012, Aggregate paid clicks increased 39% over the first quarter of 2011 and increased approximately 7% over the fourth quarter of 2011. Average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our Network members, decreased approximately 12% over the first quarter of 2011 and decreased approximately 6% over the fourth quarter of 2011. Traffic acquisition costs, the portion of revenues shared with Google’s partners, increased to $2.51 billion in the first quarter of 2012, compared to TAC of $2.04 billion in the first quarter of 2011. TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 25% in the first quarter of 2012, compared to 25% in the first quarter of 2011. Last quarter Google came up short of Wall Street expectations, reporting earnings per share of $9.50 and revenue of $8.13 billion. We’ll be listening to the call soon to give you more context and information around these numbers. View this document on Scribd View this document on Scribd