Millennial Media shares sink amid 'strategic alternatives' talk
Baltimore-based ad tech firm Millennial Media (MM) has been struggling to impress shareholders for at least a couple years now; shares in the company, which went public in March 2012 at $13 a share, have been below $10 since July 2013. And comments by company CEO Michael Barrett on Monday—that the firm is in talks that could lead to its acquisition—aren't helping (Millennial Media will "explore and assess potential strategic alternatives," he said). Shares in the company were down to $1.42, a roughly 16 percent drop, as of noon today. Read more in the Baltimore Business Journal. — Kyle Alspach
D.C. private equity firm Carlyle Group spends $8 billion, announces exec shake-up
Carlyle Group (CG) has announced the acquisition of Veritas, a data storage company previously owned by cybersecurity franchise Symantec Corp (maker of Norton Security), for a whopping $8 billion. In addition to the deal, CG has announced the appointment of technology exec Bill Coleman, the founder of BEA Systems, as CEO. Bill Krause, who was the former CEO of 3Com, will become chairman. Veritas, the makers of data storage, management and recovery software, was originally purchased by Symantec in 2005 for $13.5 billion...Read More
Two large Virginia IT companies announce merger deal
Virginia IT companies Salient Federal Solutions and CRGT announced on Tuesday that they will merge into one company. Both companies do IT work work for the federal government and its agencies. The financial details were not revealed it looks like the end result will be an even split of the merged company between Frontenac, which backs Salient, and Bridge Growth Partners, which has backed CRGT... Read more.
The essential apps for DC college students
It's getting close to back to school time and students want to make sure to pack their smartphones with the best apps for campus life. We picked out six of the most essential apps for local college students, covering how to skip lines for food, find a date for the weekend or just make sure the citations in your next paper are formatted correctly. Check out the whole list in our roundup here.
Google goes after the whole Alphabet
Google has decided to reshape its corporate structure, making Google a subsidiary of a new corporate entity called Alphabet Inc. with the unusual website of abc.xyz—although that may be because it doesn't own alphabet.com. Google CEO Larry Page will now be the CEO of Alphabet with fellow Google co-founder Sergey Brin as president and Sundar Pichai as the new CEO of Google. Check out Page's full blog post about the changes here.
Haha beats lol on Facebook
According to a new report from Facebook, lol (also known as "laugh out loud" in case you haven't spent much time on the Internet) has succumbed to newer forms of digital laughter. Various forms of haha now make up for 51.4 percent of laughter in comments, with hehe and emojis also beating out lol, which only had a 1.9 percent showing. Check out the whole report here and decide your favorite way to laugh online.
Can the iPhone 7 save Apple Pay?
Apple Pay may be in trouble, with its adoption rate headed in the wrong direction. But there may be a glimmer of hope on the horizon with the upcoming iPhone 7. There's a possibility that the new phone, likely to be announced next month, could turn things around for the struggling payment service. Find out more in Chris Bing's story here.
