Disney Acquires Social Gaming Company Playdom for up to $763.2 Million
It’s official, I am now the newest “cast member” of the Walt Disney Company. I have been fortunate over the last several years to be doing exactly what I love— building games. When I joined Playdom earlier this year I was excited about the future of social games. Working with a start up like Playdom offered me the opportunity to help build a top entertainment company. Today we have not only validated our success but are proud members of the largest entertainment company in the world. This is only the beginning.
Official Press Release
THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY TO ACQUIRE LEADING SOCIAL GAME DEVELOPER PLAYDOM
Advancing on its goal of bringing consumers its well-known stories, characters and brands in ever more engaging ways, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Playdom Inc., one of the leading companies in the fast-growing business of online social gaming.
Playdom shareholders will receive total consideration of $563.2 million, subject to certain conditions, and a performance-linked earn-out of up to $200 million.
In just two and a half years of operation, Playdom has established itself as a pacesetter in building popular games for social networks enjoyed by consumers around the globe. Through well-known titles like Social City, Sorority Life, Market Street and Bola, Playdom engages an estimated 42 million active players each month.
By acquiring Playdom, Disney will strengthen its already-robust digital gaming portfolio, acquire a first-rate management team and provide consumers new ways to interact with the company on popular social networks like Facebook and MySpace.
Press Articles & Links
New York Times: Disney Purchases Playdom, a Social Game Start-Up
AllFacebook.com: Disney Buys Playdom For Up To $763.2 Million
Mashable: Disney Acquires Social Gaming Company Playdom for up to $763.2 Million
Inside Social Games: Disney Announces Playdom Acquisition for $563.2M, Plus Up to $200M Earn-Out
TechCrunch: Playdom Acquired By Disney For Up To $763.2 Million
Read MoreThe 4-Hour Work Week - Experiments in Lifestyle Design
Take a break from the normal and learn about the adventure of working on your own terms. Sound like a vacation you’d like to take? Then The 4-Hour Work Week, by Timothy Ferriss is for you.
Entrepreneur Timothy Ferriss rewrites the rules and upsets conventional wisdom about work and success in his self-help guide to the new, rich economy. It is not necessary to toil for 70 hours per week, according to Ferriss, who runs a company called BrainQuicken. Successful people, he says, have actually mastered a system of working less by outsourcing tasks, severely cutting back on timewasters such as meetings, and working offsite. Ferriss tells how the principles that made him rich are transferable to other companies.
Read more at Ferriss’ blog http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/
[Repost of Original Mike Johnston Vox Blog of July 6, 2007]
Read MoreProfit from your products - Ship them for free!
Make Prices readily available and easy to find
Many people are using the web for price comparison and research. This means that, unless you have a single unique product, your customers are going to judge you as much on price as anything else at your store. In today’s world people hit a web page and make a decision on where and what to click next within 4-15 seconds. Do you want the conversion?
Case in point: The worse usability idea ever was seen during the Christmas shopping season last year. The day after Thanksgiving (the single busiest shopping day in the US) Circuit City decided to force all visitors to add items to their shopping cart prior to seeing the “deal” price. This meant you had to register before you could find out how much an XBOX costs. It took almost 5-8 clicks to actually see a price. By the time you completed this asinine process you were to tired to buy.
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