For Disney, it's a push to connect with the modern American family not only through its renowned Pixar movies and Disney World theme parks, but also in novel parenting advice on Babble's online blog that spans topics like family technology, maternity fashion, organic foods and coupons -- and goes by the slogan "for a new generation of parents."
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"Parents' relationships with Disney are founded in stories, and Disney's best stories are about families. We believe that Babble and Disney can harness the power of storytelling to inform, entertain and empower parents everywhere," said Brooke Chaffin, a Disney SVP in a statement announcing the deal. It's price wasn't disclosed.Babble, which was given recognition as one of the 50 Best Websites of 2010 by Time Magazine and was one of Forbes's Top 100 Websites for Women, was founded in 2006 and has had over $6 million in venture capital investment from Greycroft Partners, Village Ventures and iNovia Capital, AllthingsD reports.The company's founders Rufus Griscom and Alisa Volkman along with its 40 employees will integrate into Disney's Interactive Media Group that earned nearly $1 billion of Disney's $40.9 billion in 2011 sales as of its year ended in September. Disney's Interactive Media group became a separate unit of the media and entertainment conglomerate, which owns ESPN, in 2008. The unit's been lossmaking in its first three years of independence, and saw its operating loss accelerate to $308 million in 2011.While Disney didn't how the buy would add to earnings, it said that existing content for "Moms and Family" will now be posted on Babble, which it said in a press release is the "premier blogging platform for a new generation of connected parents." With the Babble community, which Disney says "support, encourage and celebrate the highs and lows of raising children," it may look to consolidate losses in its Interactive Media unit. In case you missed it, here are three deals to watch:Bank of America(BAC) agreed to sell about 10.4 billion shares in China Construction Bank for about $6.6 billion in cash, in another step towards improving its capital position. The sale will be made through a private transaction to a group of investors and will result in an after-tax gain of $1.8 billion. Bank of America will own 1% in the Chinese bank following the transaction, down from 5%. The latest also sale follows the bank's earlier divestment of about half of its original 10% stake for a pre-tax gain of $3.6 billion in the third quarter. The deal is expected to close in November. Shares of Bank of America fell 2% to $6.09 in early trading, extending losses of over 50% year-to-date. For more on Bank of America's China Construction sale click here.
Private-equity firm Blackstone(BX) is working with Yahoo!'s(YHOO) Asian partners Alibaba and Softbank on a buyout of the Web giant, according to reports by AllthindsD, which cited unnamed sources.
It's the latest twist in the ongoing saga of Yahoo!'s rumored sale of the company or its assets, which took a turn last week when Bloomberg reported that Alibaba and Softbank hadn't signed an exclusivity agreement with Yahoo!, which is undergoing a strategic review to maximize shareholder returns.
Speculation about Yahoo!'s fate began in earnest when the company ousted Carol Bartz as CEO in early September and hired investment bankers to undertake a strategic review of its options. Shares of Yahoo! fell slightly to $16.23 in early trading. Its shares are down 2.5% year-to-date. For more on Yahoo sale rumors click here.The largest maker of credit card systems, VeriFone Systems (PAY), said Monday it was buying Swedish payment services company Point in the latest move by the traditional retail processor into alternative payment services.VeriFone purchased Point from private equity firm Nordic Capital for $826 million, according to a company statement. Earlier in November, VeriFone bought Global Bay Mobile Technologies to bolster its ability to process mobile payments coming from shoppers using products like Apple's(AAPL) iPhone and tablet devices like it's iPad to make online purchases from retailers such as Groupon(GRPN) and Amazon(AMZN). VeriFone's rose nearly 5% to $42.69. It's shares have risen over 10% year-to-date. For more on VeriFone's acquisitions click here.--.
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