May 13, 2013 (AME Info - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- TWITTER VALUATION CONTINUES TO RISE AHEAD OF POSSIBLE IPO: Twitter Inc. has been valued at $9.8bn by one of its investors, up about 10 percent from a previous estimate, indicating shares are appreciating ahead of a possible initial public offering for the microblogging service, Bloomberg has reported. GSV Capital Corp owns 1.9 million shares of Twitter valued at $35.2m, the firm said. Twitter is becoming more valuable as the San Francisco-based social website boosts revenue from advertising and moves closer to a predicted IPO. In January, it was valued at about $9bn when a fund managed by BlackRock Inc. bought stock from employees, up from the $8bn valuation in a 2011 investment round led by DST Global, people with knowledge of the matter said.
YAHOO EYEING HULU BUYOUT: Yahoo! Inc. is exploring whether to bid for the Hulu streaming-TV service, Bloomberg has reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The company's CEO Marissa Mayer met this month with Hulu senior executives to learn more about the site, said one of the people. With advertisers willing to pay a premium to run commercials alongside high-quality content, Mayer is seeking to add videos across Yahoo's products. Hulu, owned by News Corp, Walt Disney Co and Comcast Corp, offers free reruns of television shows and movies and provides newer programming and earlier access through an $8-a-month service.
IRAN ALLOWS REUTERS TO REOPEN TEHRAN BUREAU: Iran's culture ministry has said it has granted Reuters permission to reopen its Tehran bureau, which was suspended in March 2012 over one of its video reports, PTI has reported. "Last week the ministry told Reuters it could restart its work in Iran," said deputy culture minister Mohammad Jafar Mohammadzadeh. In September 2012, a court found Reuters guilty of "propaganda against the regime", and "publishing false information in an effort to disturb public opinion" in a report portraying female ninja students as assassins.
BING BOOSTS FACEBOOK INTEGRATION: Microsoft's online search engine Bing is adding new social features that allow users to comment and 'Like' their Facebook friends' posts directly on the site, PC World has reported. The move constitute another expansion to the search site to make it more interactive and useful, as the company seeks to distinguish itself from Google search. Previously, users could see that content, but could not interact with it without leaving the Bing site. "Now you can see what your friends might know about what you're searching for and engage with them directly without leaving the search page," Bing said in a blog post.
YOUTUBE ROLLS OUT PAID CHANNELS: YouTube has announced the launch of its first paid subscription channels, as the Google-owned video service made a long-anticipated move to challenge streaming services like Netflix, AFP has reported. The move is part of an effort that began in 2007 aimed at enabling "content creators to earn revenue for their creativity." "Starting today, we're launching a pilot programme for a small group of partners that will offer paid channels on YouTube with subscription fees starting at $0.99 per month," YouTube said in a blog post. Subscribers will be able to access the channels from a computer, phone, tablet or TV, "and soon you'll be able to subscribe to them from more devices," YouTube said.
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