Yahoo is Hot on Google’s Heels

Yahoo Inc. added another weapon in its high-stakes duel with its richer Internet rival Google Inc. this week by snapping up online advertising exchange Right Media Inc. for US$680 million (euro499.82 million).

Although the cash-and-stock price is well below the US$3.1 billion (euro2.28 billion) that Google recently agreed to pay for online ad distributor DoubleClick Inc., Right Media did not come cheaply for Sunnyvale-based Yahoo.

Last October, Right Media was valued at US$200 million (euro147 million) based on the US$40 million (euro29.4 million) that Yahoo paid to acquire a 20 percent stake in the privately held company at that time. Yahoo is now paying more than three times Right Media’s valuation just six months ago to gain full ownership of an exchange designed to make it easier for Web publishers to show what they have to sell to online advertisers.

.TV Premium Sales Top $500k in Day 1, ME.tv Launches

Demand Media, Inc., the next-generation web media company, and its wholly owned subsidiary and largest wholesale registrar, eNom , announced today .TV domain names sold in the first 24 hours of availability, totaled in approximately $500,000 in sales, not including those pending payment. The premium TLDs were released to market late Monday afternoon after a five-month hiatus, and are available at www.domainsindemand.tv.

Examples of premium domains that were sold in the first day of availability include:

bands.tv
bridal.tv
earth.tv
fitness.tv
history.tv
Malibu.tv
punk.tv
realtor.tv
skateboards.tv
weekend.tv
yearbook.tv

The release of premium names on May 1st was timed in conjunction with the introduction of www.me.tv, the first integrated suite of proprietary social media tools that allows anyone to own, program, and share their own personal video-centric website with social networking features and content completely controlled by them. These tools are provided free with the purchase of a .TV domain name purchased through www.me.tv or through an eNom reseller.