Thursday 10 January 2008

O'Brien ups stake in Independent

Irish media and telcoms businessman Denis O'Brien has raised his stake in Independent News & Media PLC to 16.43 percent Thursday.

This is the second time in recent weeks O'Brien has raised his stake in the media company, which owns the Independent and Independent on Sunday in the United Kingdom.

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Sun-Times business editor resigns, expects paper to be sold

The Chicago Sun-Times business editor resigned Thursday, telling his staff he anticipates the paper will be sold in just months, and would rather leave now than be laid off due to staff cuts in the future.

Dan Miller, 62, said he will stay with the paper and work on special projects until March. His announcement comes just two days after the Sun-Times debuted a smaller size just and days after the Sun Times Media Group began announcing newsroom layoffs in an effort to cut costs by $50 million.

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Google allowing addresses into AdWords?

Greg Sterling, founder of consulting and research firm Sterling Market Intelligence, writes in his blog that he received an e-mail telling him about a local address being found in an AdWords ad.

The inclusion of a physical address, in addition to the name of a city or region, suggests “either a new policy at Google or a failure to catch a clever advertiser. It's probably the former however,” states Sterling, also a senior analyst for Local Mobile Search, a service from Opus Research.

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3G penetration in Europe expected to exceed 70 percent by 2010

The mobile broadband industry and 3G technology are hot in Europe – the revenue from each mobile broadband user per month is steadily growing, and 3G penetration is soaring as well, according to Exane BNP Paribas’ estimate.

In 2005, 3G technology only reached about 10 percent of Europeans, but it will exceed 40 percent this year, and reach seven out of 10 by the year of 2010.

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Yahoo opens mobile Web platform

Yahoo is hoping to beat Google and other rivals on the mobile phone. It announced the launch of its mobile platform Monday, which allows outside programmers to develop new applications for mobile Web pages.

Yahoo hopes the mini-applications, known as widgets, will attract more users, and then bring in more ad revenues for the company.

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Mail editor Dacre paid £1.5 million

After receiving a 21 percent raise, Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail, was paid almost £1.5 million in 2007, making him the highest-paid editor on London's Fleet Street.

Dacre was paid £1.49 million for the year ending Sept. 30, 2007, according to the Daily Mail & General Trust's annual report, published Thursday. Most of Dacre's pay raise came from an increase in cash allowances, which reached £443,000 in 2007, more than double the £204,000 he received the previous year.

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Identifying Trends for the Future of Newspapers

The World Association of Newspapers has asked leading newspapers executives to identify the current trends they believe will have an impact on the future of their businesses. Some are profound and others are seemingly minor -- but all have the potential to shape the future of newspapers.

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