Force Protection (NASDAQ:FRPT) gets sales for trucks in UK. Up almost 13% on the news.

LookSmart (NASDAQ: LOOK) is up 10% on comments on a positive Q1.

Millennium Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MLNM) is up over 50% on a buy-out bid from Takeda Pharmaceutical.

Virgin Media (NASDAQ:VMED) is off over 12% on news it is raising $1 billion.

Stocks may trade differently in the pre-market than they do in the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

The performance at LookSmart (NASDAQ: LOOK) hasn't been too smart over the years. Even though the company is in the red-hot online advertising sector, it still can't seem to get an edge against Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO), and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).

For example, in yesterday's Q3 report, LookSmart posted a meager 4% increase in revenues to $12.6 million. There was also a GAAP net loss of $4.3 million, or $0.19 per share.

So, to get things on track, LookSmart is rationalizing things. That is, the company announced it has sold its FindArticles.com division to CNET (NASDAQ: CNET) for $20.1 million in cash.

FindArticles.com is a niche asset, with an archive of 11 million articles from more than 3,000 sources. And, for the most part, it looks like a fit for CNET. Expect other content deals from the company.

However, as for LookSmart, it still has a lot of challenges. The company slashed 25% of its workforce and isn't providing any revenue guidance. In other words, things are going to remain cloudy for some time.

Finally, visit DealProfiles.com to check out other recent M&A activity.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Perhaps because of recent (or should I say, perennial?) data-release and net privacy dust-ups, Netflix made of point of stating that the 100 million movie ratings made available for prize-seekers have been stripped of all personal and account data. Hm, I wonder if that's the last we will hear about that?

However, I'm less interested in that than curious and anxious to see what kind of results they will get with this "wisdom of crowds" approach to R&D. Forming a "wise crowd", as defined by author James Surowieki requires four elements: diversity of opinion, independence, decentralization, and aggregation. This contest, assuming $1 million is a price sufficient to attract the interest of enough mathematicians, engineers, and programmers to generate a vast pool of ideas, has all four ingredients.

(via BetaNews)

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Most of what I write about draws on my experience as an investor over the last four decades, and my investment company interests. However, my role as an architect has taught me many valuable lessons as well. One of my most cherished lessons comes from the United States Marines Corps.

Constant Mission Improvement
The concept of Constant Mission Improvement was presented to me in early programming and design meetings for an aircraft maintenance training facility at the U. S. Marine Corps Air Station, Camp Pendleton, CA. There is nothing complex about the concept. Simply stated, everything shall be reviewed on a constant basis for potential improvement, and if something can be improved then strive to make it happen. This means that each team member, owners representatives designers, engineers, managers and the rest shall be on the look out for ways to make the project better all the time.

Think of Jack Welch's adoption of the Six Sigma program; disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects (driving towards six standard deviations between the mean and the nearest specification limit) in any process.

Think of what eBay (EBAY) should be doing and is not.

The Internet creates the opportunity to make this process much more robust than ever before. This in essence is how Linux was envisioned, and for the most part how it evolved. It demands the ultimate in cooperation.

One for all, and all for one! Think of the Marines as the "Three Musketeers" times 10,000. The Marines are the ultimate team players. I think we were practicing Constant Mission Improvement already when we came upon the term but it added clear definition to our thinking. Clarity of mission is a related aspect of the process. How are you supposed to solve a problem or accomplish a goal if it is not clearly defined? So defining the mission is the first critical step.

Among our BloggingStocks companies, I think Time Warner (TWX) with its multitude of enterprises has the greatest problem with clarity of mission. Carl Icahn seems to want to help management with this. From an investor's point of view, don't you feel like they have been trying to figure things out for the past eight to ten years, even pre-merger with AOL? It probably was one of the factors that lead to the fiasco of a merger in the first place. Mr. Icahn sees the company as worth more in pieces because he rightly knows that focus and clarity will add value. It will allow investors to have a better understanding of the mission and its potential.

If Microsoft (MSFT) does not watch out it could, too, end up in a very muddled place. I think it has been heading in this direction as management searches for the next big thing and tries to sustain its market position in the mean time.

Can-Do Attitude: It seems to me that Google has implemented some form of Constant Mission Improvement. Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL) apear to be the most focused of our BloggingStocks companies at this time, and they have seen the greatest reward in recent history-- Go Eric, Go Steve! Federal Express (FDX), Southwest Airlines (LUV), Starbucks (SBUX), and Toyota (TM / ADR) come to mind as well. There are many, and success can be fleeting, so the word constant is not to be understated. Dell is similary focused; but it may have been focused on the wrong thing for a while.

GM, Ford, Home Depot, and eBay are companies that seem to lose their way at times. Home Depot may be on the road back sooner than the others. They are in the process of redirecting their efforts. Just give me a call, folks I think I can help you with this! Or maybe it's "time to call in the Marines" (used to be the Cavalry)...or the children's version-- I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...choo choo!

Joy at BloggingStocks.com: Our editors Amey Stone and Sarah Gilbert have been terrific at facilitating our story ideas. We work as a team to present ideas, and the challenge of being relevant and interesting while always polishing has been rewarding so far. I give credit also to those with some wisdom to add in their comments from time to time. They keep us sharp and more focused and also spark additional ideas to ponder for future posts...so keep it coming. I'm not always great at accepting criticism but I do enjoy making things better.

Everyone should practice Constant Mission Improvement I have worked with every branch of the Departmentof Defense but the Marines were the best. From my experience they are as special as they present themselves; The Few, the Proud, the Brave.

Disclosure: I currently own shares of Time Warner (TWX), Federal Express (FDX) and Starbucks. I hold no position long or short in any of the other companies mentioned. Luckily we all own shares in the Marines.

Other recent articles:

Housing TROUBLE may double! (but I have hard time with the bubble)

Microsoft Zune - What is in a name?

The BORING FACTOR: new predictor?

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for Design and Research of an Architecture & Planning firm.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Bambi Francisco, a columnist at MarketWatch, has a very interesting piece this week: MySpace-engine.

Despite being the second most trafficked site on the Web, MySpace is still a teenager when it comes to monetization. True, generating $200 million in revenues is no small feat (especially for a company less than three years old). Then again, companies like Google and Yahoo! are sucking-up much of the enormous amounts spent for online advertising.

So, why shouldn't MySpace jump into the search game? One idea would be to purchase a company like LookSmart (Nasdaq: LOOK). The company has made a comeback - and more importantly, has the necessary search infrastructure (which took hundreds of millions to develop over the years). And the market cap is dirt cheap: $95 million. In fact, the company has $44 million in cash and liquid securities.

According to Francisco, about 8.2% of Google's traffic comes from tools on MySpace.com. Interestingly enough, it is the biggest source of traffic for Google. So, it looks like a no brainer for MySpace to have its own search engine.

Actually, this morning, I talked with the CEO of a company called Foldera. It's a Web 2.0 collaborative tool focused on small to medium-sized businesses. His product also pushes lots of traffic to Google. "Why not try to monetize this large amount of corporate traffic?" he told me.

Yes, many online communities are asking themselves this question. And, with the huge amounts of money at stake in the online advertising market, Google will need to deal with fierce competition on all fronts - not just from Yahoo and MSN.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments