So it looks like Twitter has entered some rarefied air for sure. According to ReadWriteWeb and TechCrunch the micro-blogging juggernaut is moving into an exclusive club by securing a new round of funding ($50 million) based on a valuation of $1 billion (yup, it’s a b). No doubt, this will begin to stir the supporters and detractors alike.
eBay Sells Skype, Which is Worth $2.75 Billion
Update: The announcement has been made. Some details from the press release:
Global Online Population To Hit 2 Billion
The number of people online globally is set to grow more than 45 percent to 2.2 billion users over the next five years, according to a new report from Forrester Research.
Asia will account for 43 percent of the world’s online population by 2013, with 17 percent residing in China.
Growth rates in the U.S., Western Europe, and nations in Asia Pacific such as Australia, Japan, and South Korea will slow to between 1 percent and 3 percent.
Online Ads Contribute $300 Billion To U.S. Economy
Online advertising contributes $300 billion to the U.S. economy, according to a new study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
The ad supported Internet accounts for 2.1 percent of the total U.S. gross domestic product. It directly employs more than 1.2 million Americans with above-average wages in jobs that did not exist two decades ago, and another 1.9 million people work to support those with Internet-related jobs.
US Online Ad Revenue at $5.5 Billion in Q1
Internet advertising revenues in the US reached $5.5 billion for the first quarter. This is according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. This is a 5% decline from a year ago.
Web Analytics Market to Reach Nearly $1 Billion in US
Research from Forrester indicates that the US Web Analytics Market is on track to reach nearly a billion dollars by 2014. Forrester attributes this to a need for marketing organizations to be more accountable to businesses.
Also at play is a shift in marketing budgets’ allocation for interactive channels, for the purpose of matching consumers’ migration online, the firm notes. The market is expected to grow to $953 million by 2014, which would be a 17% compound annual growth rate.
EU Fines Intel A Record $1.45 Billion
The European Commission has imposed a record fine against Intel Corp of $1.45 billion (1.06 billion euros) for violating antitrust rules and other practices used to exclude competitor AMD from the computer chip market.
Twitter Would Say ‘No’ To $1 Billion
It looks like the biggest April Fool’s Joke was on all of us. Despite persistent rumors that Google was in talks to acquire Twitter (the coolest thing since the last coolest thing since sliced bread), no deal is forthcoming.
Wireless Revenue Reached $32 Billion In 2008
Wireless revenues showed solid year-to-year gains, as wireless data service revenues for 2008 rose to more than $32 billion, according to a survey from CTIA-The Wireless Association.
This represents a 39 percent increase over 2007, when data revenues totaled $23.2 billion. Wireless data revenues for 2008 amounted to nearly 22 percent of all wireless service revenues, and represent what consumers spend on non-voice services.
Mobile Local Search Advertising to Reach $1.3 Billion?
The number of people using mobile devices to get content is on the way up.