Microsoft Pays $240 Million for 1.6% Stake in Facebook

Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it will pay $240 million for a 1.6% stake in Facebook, which puts a $15 billion valuation on the less than four-year-old online social network.

Microsoft also sells online ads for Facebook.

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Gamers Will Watch Ads for Free Games

According to Macrovision, a maker of copy-protection technology, 83% of gamers are willing to view a 30-second ad in order to play a game for free.

They conducted a survey of nearly 400 gamers on its TryGames.com site; demographics of respondents were 69% female, with 29% aged 50-60 and 34% aged 35-49.

The survey also found that 53% of respondents were willing to purchase games only after having played a trial version.

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Is Google-DoubleClick Merger Safe?

Well, many advertsiers are not too sure. According to PC World: "...some rivals calling for regulatory intervention -- but for customers, trust may be of greater concern than antitrust."

Google follows users through cookies and through their user names when they log on to Google services. DoubleClick tracks visitors through cookies associated with the banner advertisements served up on the Web sites they visit.

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Google Buys DoublClick for 3.1 billion

It's not Microsoft it's Google who buys DoubleClick.

Google announced on Friday that it will acquire Internet advertising company DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in cash.

The deal, expected to close by the end of 2007, is the largest acquisition in the company's history, coming six months after Google paid $1.65 billion for YouTube.

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Microsoft to Buy DoubleClick?

Bloomberg is reporting that Microsoft is in talks to buy DoubleClick. Double Click owners Hellman & Friedman are seeking a $2 billion.

"The purchase would give Microsoft tools to battle Google Inc. for ads that appear on Web sites. DoubleClick works with advertisers to create online campaigns, such as streaming video clips to promote New Line Cinema's movie "The Number 23." The New York-based company's Dart technology monitors the performance of Internet ads for marketing companies."

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Google Accused of Aiding Movie Pirates

One more for Google...

Media firms including News Corp., Viacom, Sony, NBC Universal, Disney and Time Warner have accused Google of enabling piracy by selling keyword ads for sites that offered illegal movie downloads, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Google held negotiations with the media firms on Friday, and said that it would remove objectionable ads and refrain from selling ads to sites that sell pirated content.

P.S. Attention Google Salespeople: you enable software piracy by allowing sites to sell illigal software, please stop that as well.