Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Facebook is losing ‘its grip on consumers’ (SowetanLive)
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), which once seemed poised to take over the Internet, is showing its limitations: a host of newer services are gaining ground among trend-setting youth; a much-hyped smartphone app has received a tepid response; and grand ambitions such as taking on Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the search business seem ever more fanciful. In a volatile Internet industry where companies can rise and fall almost overnight, one might even say that the nine-year-old Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is suffering a mid-life crisis.
Can Simplified Advertisement Process Dilute Facebook Ad Revenue Woes ? (DazeInfo)
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is getting rid of half of 27 ad units to modify and simplify its system which was discombobulating advertisers. The social media giant which is making a nerve-racking attempt to revive its revenue will still display ads inside users newsfeeds and on the right hand side of its webpage but it precipitously reduce the options marketers have to choose for those alleged ad-units. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is reducing its Ad units in coming weeks or months but this streamlined system will not affect the pricing on its advertisements.
Day of reckoning for Facebook shareholders? (MarketWatch)
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) investors headed to the company’s annual shareholder meeting next week should know by now what happened to the money they lost investing in the social network’s $18 billion initial public offering in May 2012. They have two reminders, one of which is the billions in cash on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) +1.40% balance sheet. The other is the steady stream of insider stock sales that have continued apace right through April and May of this year.
More cities trying to lure data centers (ArgusLeader)
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is set to invest up to $1 billion in Altoona, Iowa. Not far away, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is planning an estimated $400 million expansion in Council Bluffs. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is doing business in Wyoming, starting with a $112 million project. In each case, the tech giants are building massive data centers – a target industry shared by Sioux Falls and becomingly increasingly competitive nationwide. “It’s not necessarily trying to land the Facebook or Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) or any other large, large projects,” said Dean Dziedzic, director of strategic initiatives for the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.
Google to buy traffic app Waze after Facebook deal falls through (Information-Age)
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is poised to acquire Waze, an Israeli traffic and mapping app start-up, for over $1 billion, according to newspaper Haaretz. Waze’s technology analyses mobile GPS data to compile traffic patterns and allows users to add useful information to crowdsourced maps. The app has 36 million users around the world, the company said earlier this year. Social networking giant Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) was originally in the frame to acquire Waze. However, the deal stalled because Waze was not prepared to relocate to one of Facebook’s R&D centres in Silicon Valley, New York or London.
