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(<keyword id="6610414" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mohit-Goel">Mohit Goel</keyword> and the founders at the <keyword id="3247248" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Freedom-251">Freedom 251</keyword> launch event. Image credit: PTI) 
 
 
On July 8, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=mohit+goel&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Mohit Goel</a>, CEO and founder of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Rinmging-Bells-website-shows-no-sign-of-Freedom-251/articleshow/53113390.cms">Ringing Bells</a>, the makers of what is being touted as the world’s cheapest smartphone personally hand-delivered the first model of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=freedom+251&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Freedom 251</a> to a surprised <keyword id="3483784" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="ankita-birla">Ankita Birla</keyword>, a 27-year-old vendor co-ordinator from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=noida&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Noida</a>. 
 
Birla had to pay Rs 291 for the smartphone, of which Rs 40 includes a delivery charge levied by the company. Like the countless others who had placed an order for the smartphone, she too was skeptical about the phone ultimately reaching her. 
 
 
(Mohit Goel hand-delivering the first model of Freedom 251 to Ankita Birla. Image credit: Indiatimes) 
 
 
“I never thought the company would deliver,” she admitted, echoing the thoughts of the entire <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=indian+smartphone+market&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Indian smartphone market</a>. Her suspicions were only reinforced by all the controversies the company was mired in- from being accused of being a fraud and defaulting on vendor payments to relabeling an existing brand and demanding Rs 50,000 crore from the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=indian+government&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Indian government</a> to continue its production. 
 
Twenty-nine-year-old Goel, on the other hand is unperturbed and took the opportunity to silence his critics. “Everyone had already declared that I was running a Ponzi scheme. Despite being branded as a fraudster, I did deliver what I promised. With Freedom 251, I proved that it’s possible to make a smartphone n this kind of investment,” he said. 
 
However, Goel’s claim of delivering what he promised- a smartphone, which comes with a quad-core processor, a four-inch screen and front and back cameras- at Rs 251 is a bit premature and should be taken with a pinch of salt, given the unanswered questions plaguing the company, unfulfilled deliveries and its recent plea for government support. 
 
Initially in February, the company had said that it was in a position to deliver 20 lakh handsets by June 30. That stance quickly changed when more than 70 million people jostled to register online for the phone leading to the website crashing in just three days. 
 
That was followed by an incident where the media was given handsets which turned out to be a Chinese-made phone whose brand name- Adcom- had been covered up with white paint on the front, and a sticker hid it on the rear. 
 
The widespread furore also resulted in protests outside the company’s headquarters, multiple enquiries by the police, tax authorities and the enforcement directorate. 
 <keyword id="6428840" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ringing-Bells">Ringing Bells</keyword> then refunded the deposits it had taken from more than 30,000 people on the internet and announced that buyers could pay for Freedom 251 with cash upon delivery. The company also added that it would fulfil 2 lakh deliveries out of the 70 million orders that they had received, stating that the first phase would start from July 8 and 5,000 units would be sent out for deliveries. 
 Then on July 7, a day before the delivery was set to begin, the company hosted a fresh launch event in Delhi, reiterating the fact that Freedom 251 is very much real. Goel also used the platform to launch a <keyword id="3475081" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="freedom-led-tv">Freedom LED TV</keyword> at Rs 9990 and six new phones- four of them being feature phones. 
 
 
(Ringing Bells launching their latest offering- Freedom LED TV. Image credit: PTI) 
 
 
He then made a shocking <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Freedom-251-makers-seek-Rs-50000-crore-from-the-government-after-facing-losses/articleshow/53088935.cms">last minute plea to the Indian government for Rs 50,000 crores</a>. 
 
In a letter written to the Prime Minister's Office dated June 28 asking for a meeting with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=narendra+modi&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Narendra Modi</a> , Ringing Bells said: "We have brought 'Freedom 251' which we offer on 'Cash on Delivery' terms but we have a gap between the BOM (Bill of Materials) and the Selling Price. We, therefore, humbly request government support to actualise the objective to cascade the availability and usage of <keyword id="6354775" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Smartphones">smartphones</keyword> all through the far reaches of our great nation." 
 According to Goel, he had initially faced a loss of Rs 930 on each handset for which parts were imported from <keyword id="46274" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Taiwan">Taiwan</keyword>. 
 
"I recovered Rs. 700-800 from app developers and from the revenue generated through advertisements on the Freedom 251 website. After selling the device for Rs. 251 (cash on delivery), the total loss per handset is expected to be in the range of Rs. 180-270," Goel claimed. 
He further added that if the government is willing to dole out that amount, he can ensure that 750 million of India's population would become part of digital India by owning a smartphone at Rs. 251. 
 
If that wasn’t all, Goel also announced that 90% of the proceeds of the sale would go to charity right after he admitted that Ringing Bells is a loss-making venture due to Freedom 251 and that the company would take slightly more time to deliver on its bookings apart from seeking government support to do the same. 
 
 
(Mohit Goel with a Freedom 251 handset. Image credit: PTI) 
 
 
At this point, we have umpteen questions- the chief being- if we were to assume that Ringing Bells is indeed cash-starved and in dire need of government support, how does Goel explain getting the money required to launch six new phones and a LED TV? It should also be noted that the company claimed to already have 1lakh units of the cheap Freedom LED TV in stock. 
 
To this, Goel replies that his assembly partners and his distributors have invested in the company making the production of the LED TV and other devices possible. “We are looking to make 15% profit on the LED TVS,” he added. 
 
While the company’s befuddling maths especially, the one justifying the Rs 251 tag never made sense, as most industry experts maintained that the cheapest variant of a phone with these kind of specs should cost Rs 2,500 at least, Goel’s recent claim of Ringing Bells giving away 90% of its proceeds to charity is also devoid of all logic. 
 
How can a company reeling in losses and desperately seeking Rs 50,000 crores from the Indian government afford to make any claims of charity? 
 
That’s not even the scariest part. The most outrageous part of the entire Freedom 251 episode is that none of the founders of Ringing Bells (including Goel) have any technology background. 
 
 
(Mohit Goel sits in the Ringing Bells office with the company's latest phone offerings. Image credit: BBC) 
 
 
This begs the most important question- What exactly is the Ringing Bells end-game? 
 
A common theory floating around is that the company is okay with making losses on Freedom 251 as long as it is making a splash in the market (which by the looks of it, it successfully is). A few months later, it will start introducing other high-end devices- including LED TVs and smartphones and look to selling them well due to their already established name in the market. 
 
(At the time of publication of this article Ringing Bells had already shipped 4,240 units, The remaining 760 units are in the process of being shipped to Uttar Pradesh, where Goel himself intends to visit some cities)

The truth about Ringing Bells, the makers of the world’s cheapest smartphone at Rs 251

Over coffee a couple months ago, a former <keyword id="73644" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="AOL">AOL</keyword> executive told us that Ned Brody, the CEO of what used to be called AOL's Advertising.com Group, once lobbied with AOL CEO Tim Armstrong for a spinoff from the larger company.
The idea makes some sense.
The Advertising.com Group, particularly the Ad.com ad network it is named after, has been growing much faster than the overall company.
Wall Street loves <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/live-aol-reports-earnings-2013-2">the kind of revenue growth its producing. </a>
And it's not always clear that Ad.com's interests are precisely aligned with AOL's overall. AOL wants to be a company with lots of premium content brands, supported by big ticket ad sales. Ad.com tries to get great value for advertisers through programmatic buying.
But AOL never spun-out the Advertising.com Group or the Ad.com ad network within it. And then, earlier this week, AOL rebranded the group AOL Networks. 
As a part of this rebranding, we got a chance to jump on the phone with Brody.
We used the opportunity to ask him why Ad.com – now AOL Networks – belongs inside the larger company, instead of on its own.
He gave us two reasons.
<ul>
<li>"AOL has some of the most premium inventory in the marketplace. If you go out and ask re-targeters, the dirty secret is that all inventory doesn't perform the same. If you were doing a dynamic piece of creative, it's going to perform better on AOL. Having that asset in our inventory is a benefit." </li>
<li>AOL inventory is Ad.com's guinea pig. AOL Networks is more than just Ad.com. The group also has a lot of ad tech in it like Pictela and…Ad Tech. Brody says that if AOL Networks were on its own, it would have a harder time finding out if new ad formats and technologies actually create value. "We're able to try new things in the way we monetize our assets and then we commercialize those efforts."</li>
</ul>

Here's Why AOL Never Spun Out Ad.com, Despite All The Rumors

<ul><li><keyword id="184939" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Biogen">Biogen</keyword> plummeted 32% on Monday after the FDA Advisory Committee signaled that it is unconvinced Biogen's Alzheimer's therapy is effective in combating the disease.</li><li>On Friday, the FDA AdCom voted 8-1 that data from the phase 3 EMERGE study evaluating Biogen's aducanumab in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease was not enough to show efficacy.</li><li>The negative AdCom vote came two days after FDA scientists said in a document release that aducanumab data was "exceptionally persuasive."</li><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/biib-stock?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Watch Biogen trade live here.</a></li></ul><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/biib-stock">Biogen</a> experienced a quick reversal in fortunes on Monday, with its stock plummeting after an FDA Advisory Committee said it was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-expert-panel-recommends-against-biogen-alzheimers-drug-candidate-2020-11">unconvinced that data from its Alzheimer's therapy</a> was enough to demonstrate efficacy.Friday's FDA AdCom votes came two days after <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/biogen-stock-price-fda-review-alzheimers-drug-exceptionally-persuasive-2020-11-1029766403">Biogen soared 47%</a> after FDA scientists said data from its aducanumab trials was "exceptionally persuasive."Biogen cratered as much as 32% in premarket trading on Monday, on pace to erase all of the gains it made over the prior week.The FDA's Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee voted 8-1 that data from Biogen's Phase 3 EMERGE study evaluating aducanumab in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease was not enough to show efficacy.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-picks-to-buy-top-market-recommendations-from-morgan-stanley-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Morgan Stanley says to load up on these 10 stocks featured on the firm's 'buy list,' which has dominated the broader market this year</a>The AdCom also voted 7-0 that Biogen's Phase 1 PRIME study failed to show supporting evidence of efficacy. It also voted 5-0 that Biogen presented strong evidence of aducanumab's pharmacodynamic effect on Alzheimer's disease.The voting results from Friday's AdCom meeting doesn't mean that aducanumab won't be approved by the FDA, but it significantly reduces its chances of approval.A final approval decision from the FDA is due by March 2021. Biogen's aducanumab was jointly developed with Japan's Eisai Co.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/buy-and-hold-real-estate-investing-from-mcdonalds-to-multimillionaire-2020-11?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">From flipping burgers at McDonald's to a self-made multimillionaire: How Willie Mandrell leveraged a simple real-estate investing strategy to acquire 40 units and achieve financial freedom</a><div type="image" title="biogen chart.JPG" height="691" width="836" msid="79132037" hostid="261"></div>

Biogen plummets 32% after its Alzheimer's therapy fails to win support from FDA advisory committee

And here comes yet another Chinese smartphone in the country! Zopo has made a grand entry in India and launched flagship 4G LTE device 'Speed 7'. Priced at Rs 12,999, this phone will be available through Snapdeal. 
 
With Gionee, Xiaomi, OnePlus already doing well, this Chinese brand would definitely initiate some whirlpool of competition in the market. 
"India is a market with a huge potential. It is the fastest growing smartphone market globally and after success in Europe and other Asian countries, it was a logical step to come here," said Zopo Mobile General Manager Kevin Xu. 
 
The company is aiming to sell about one lakh units in a month and over one million devices over the next 12 months. 
 
"We see a lot of potential in the Indian market. While Spain is our largest market right now, in the next 1-2 years, we expect India to account for over 50 per cent of our sales," he said. 
 
The company sells about 500,000 units a month globally. 
 
Smartphone shipment in India grew 44 % to 26.5 million units in the April-June quarter, according to research firm IDC. 
Zopo has formed a marketing, distribution and service centre alliance with City-based Adcom. Adcom sells feature phones in India under the same brand name. 
 
"We already have a manufacturing facility for feature phones. After we reach a certain sales volume with Zopo, we will start manufacturing Zopo smartphones in India too... The timeline we see is by next year," Adcom founder and Chairman Sanjeev Bhatia said. 
 
He added that Zopo will be available for service through 200 service centres. 
 
'Speed 7' features Android 5.1 operating system, 3GB RAM, 5-inch frameless screen, 13.2 MP rear and 5MP front camera and 2,500 mAh battery.

Zopo is in India! Launches Speed 7 for Rs 12,999

<keyword id="6363100" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Yahoo">Yahoo</keyword> wants to hire AOL's Ad.com CEO, Ned Brody, as its head of US ad sales.
The offer is good enough that Brody has already resigned his position at AOL, <a href="http://allthingsd.com/20130410/yahoo-attempts-to-poach-aol-ad-chief-brody-to-lead-u-s-sales-setting-up-possible-legal-battle/">Kara Swisher reports</a> and <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/11/aol-confirms-ned-brody-has-resigned-as-head-of-aol-networks-ceo-armstrong-takes-over-in-the-interim/">AOL confirms.</a>
Here's the problem: Brody signed an non-compete agreement with AOL.
Yahoo's solution, according to Swisher: Pay Brody to not work for the next year.
Yahoo does need a head of sales very badly.
Since <keyword id="319703" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Marissa-Mayer">Marissa Mayer</keyword> became CEO of Yahoo last year and interim CEO Ross Levinsohn left, that people working in Yahoo sales have felt ignored and disorganized.
Mayer does not care much about salesmanship. Meanwhile, former colleagues say her COO, Henrique De Castro, isn't much of a people person.
We're hearing whispers that display advertising sales were off in the first quarter.
Because the Yahoo offer was so big, AOL did not make a counter-offer to keep Brody, Swisher says.
The poaching comes at a bad time for AOL.
Just two months ago, AOL re-organized the entire company around three main businesses, and Brody's Ad.com was one of them.

Marissa Mayer Wants To Pay This AOL Exec Boatloads Of Money To NOT Work For A Year

The government is monitoring <keyword id="6428840" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ringing-Bells">Ringing Bells</keyword>, which has announced launching the world's cheapest smartphone, and will take action if the company fails to deliver the Rs 251 handset, Telecom Minister <keyword id="6354886" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ravi-Shankar-Prasad">Ravi Shankar Prasad</keyword> said today. 
 
"Our Ministry enquired into how prepared they (Ringing Bells) are, whether they can provide a phone for Rs 251 or not. Whether they have the BIS certificate or not, we have spoken to them," Prasad told reporters here. 
 
He added that this was done to ensure that there are no discrepancies later. 
 
"If there are any, we will take action as per the law. Our department is keeping a watch," he said. 
 
A new entrant in the flourishing Indian mobile handset market, Ringing Bells last week unveiled what is being touted as the world's cheapest smartphone. However, concerns have been raised by the industry on feasibility of a 3G smartphone at such a low price. 
 
Ringing Bells has said the manufacturing cost of the phone is is about Rs 2,500, which will be recovered through a series of measures like economies of scale, innovative marketing, reduction in duties and creating an e-commerce marketplace. 
 
The I-T Department is also looking into the financial structure of the company and has obtained documents, including those from the Registrar of Companies (RoC), in this regard. 
 
A series of complaints were made to the Telecom Ministry against the company. Apart from BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, the Indian Kirit Somaiya, the Indian Cellular Association (representative of mobile handset manufacturers) had also approached the Ministry asking it to get into depth of the issue. 
 
They said the price of the device with the said specifications could not be below Rs 3,500 even after a subsidised sale. 
 
There was also a controversy around the Noida-based firm showcasing a rival company Adcom's handset as its own. 
 
Despite the controversies, Ringing Bells managed to receive over 6 crore registrations in two days. 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

Ringing Bells will face action if it fails to deliver Freedom 251 phones, says Ravi Shankar Prasad

The digital advertising market is evolving extraordinarily quickly.
Traditional online banner ads designed for PCs - and the legacy ad networks that support them - are being displaced by a new generation of formats and technologies.
All the significant growth is in these new areas: programmatic (automated ad trading platforms), video, and mobile advertising.
At <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/video?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=DM-GenCoverage-2014-7-8&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile" onclick="this.href = this.href + '-' + window.location.search.substr(1).replace(/\&amp;|\=/g, '-');">BI Intelligence, Business Insider's paid research service</a>, we've been tracking the trends that will drive a reallocation of marketing budgets away from traditional media, and into digital. For more in-depth analysis and downloads of our charts and data on the digital media industry,<a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/bii-the-future-of-digital-2013-2013-11?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=DM-GenCoverage-2014-7-8&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile" onclick="this.href = this.href + '-' + window.location.search.substr(1).replace(/\&amp;|\=/g, '-');"> including our annual Future Of Digital deck</a>, <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/video?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=DM-GenCoverage-2014-7-8&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile" onclick="this.href = this.href + '-' + window.location.search.substr(1).replace(/\&amp;|\=/g, '-');">subscribe today</a>. 
Consider: 
1. <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/video?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=DM-GenCoverage-2014-7-8&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile" onclick="this.href = this.href + '-' + window.location.search.substr(1).replace(/\&amp;|\=/g, '-');">Mobile will drive digital growth going forward</a>. Mobile will be largely responsible for pushing digital past TV in terms of its share of U.S. ad spending by 2017. 
<div class="KonaFilter image-container click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="BII" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/538f5f8869bedd077e94eb53-960/forecastusadvertisingrevenuebyformat-4.png"></a>BII</div></div>
2. <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/video?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=DM-GenCoverage-2014-7-8&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile" onclick="this.href = this.href + '-' + window.location.search.substr(1).replace(/\&amp;|\=/g, '-');">Mobile is the fastest-growing ad medium, and will see 43% annual growth between 2013 and 2018</a>. Display ads, search ads, and video ads appearing on mobile screens are grabbing an ever larger share of U.S.-based advertising budgets. In the chart below, mobile includes all ad formats - including video, search, and display - on mobile, as well as SMS ads. 
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="BII" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53bc04b1eab8ea035de57a56-960/compoundedannualgrowthrateofusadvertisingformats-3-1.png"></a>BII</div></div></div> 
3. <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/video?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=DM-GenCoverage-2014-7-8&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile" onclick="this.href = this.href + '-' + window.location.search.substr(1).replace(/\&amp;|\=/g, '-');">Companies that specialize in programmatic ad buying technology are driving impressive growth, and there is some industry consolidation</a> (Example: AOL's ownership of Ad.com and Adap.tv). Real-time bidding, or auction-style buying of impressions in the milliseconds before pages load, is the dominant form of programmatic. 
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="BII" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53bc0aec6bb3f7ff47fba6a6-960/programmatic_q1.png"></a>BII</div></div></div> 
4. <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/video?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=DM-GenCoverage-2014-7-8&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile" onclick="this.href = this.href + '-' + window.location.search.substr(1).replace(/\&amp;|\=/g, '-');">Video advertising is also growing quickly</a>. 
<div class="KonaFilter image-container click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="BII" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53bc0bbb69bedd43195147b5-960/biidigitalvideo.png"></a>BII</div></div> 
<a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/video?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=DM-GenCoverage-2014-7-8&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile" onclick="this.href = this.href + '-' + window.location.search.substr(1).replace(/\&amp;|\=/g, '-');">For full access to our coverage of digital media - including social and video - sign up for a free trial subscription today</a>.

Mobile, Video, And Real-Time Bidding Are Driving A Boom In Digital Advertising 

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:350px"><div class="image"></div><a href="http://bfanyc.com/home/event/4032">Bill Farrell Agency via Brew PR</a>Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley</div>Good morning. Lots of news today. Let's get to it.
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/11/samsung-galaxy-mega-6-3-5-8/">Samsung announced it will sell another version of the Galaxy phone. The screen is going to be huge: 6.3 inches.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-11/foursquare-gets-41-million-investment-time-to-grow">Foursquare finally landed another round of investment – $41 million from Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz, and Union Square Ventures.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://allthingsd.com/20130410/yahoo-attempts-to-poach-aol-ad-chief-brody-to-lead-u-s-sales-setting-up-possible-legal-battle/?mod=tweet">Yahoo is trying to poach Ad.com CEO Ned Brody from AOL.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://9to5mac.com/2013/04/10/apple-job-listing-confirms-apple-is-investigating-using-flexible-displays-in-future-products/">Apple is hiring someone who can help it build flexible displays. Slap-bracelet iWatch, anyone?</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/10/4210870/adam-orth-leaves-microsoft">Microsoft fired an executive who tweeted antagonistically toward customers.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=14733">Apparently, you can hijack an airliner with an Android phone.</a> Just great.</li>
<li><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/11/fwd-us/">Zuckerberg's political advocacy group has a name and website, FWD.us.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/10/has-facebook-quietly-acquired-osmeta-a-stealth-mobile-software-startup/">Facebook acquired a startup called Osmeta,</a> which described itself as a "team of “world-renowned hackers and highly accomplished researchers capable of herculean software engineering.”</li>
<li>Google Street View captures people doing bizarre things. <a href="http://google-street-view.com/">Here is a web site dedicated to sharing all of it with you.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/10/vcs-invested-6-9b-in-841-deals-in-q1-2013-funding-up-17-percent-deal-activity-highest-since-dot-com-days/">VC funding activity was up 17% during the first quarter – the most since the dotcom days.</a></li>
</ul>

10 Things You Need To Know This Morning

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>AOL will announce Friday that it is making hundreds of layoffs across its <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword> sales teams.
<a href="http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/30/aohell/">TechCrunch, which is owned by AOL, reported earlier on Friday</a> that the company was set to lay off "about 150" people, as well as consolidating some websites: gaming site Joystiq and Apple news site TUAW are folding into Engadget, while AOL Autos has been folded into Autoblog.
However, Business Insider understands the cuts within the ad sales team go far deeper.
One source, who asked not to be named, told us: "The sales team is getting annihilated today. Many sellers, sales directors, all regional directors of account management, strategy etc. At least 200 people but probably more."
Among those on the block include AOL's west coast ad sales leadership team, our source tells us.
"They're keeping everyone form the ad.com side, and even promoting some. Those that are seen as 'legacy AOL' are being booted viciously," our source said.
Meanwhile, the restructure will see those left on the account management side move from sales to operations, according ot our source.
They added: "They're keeping most account managers, while firing many sellers, leaving the account managers vulnerable to abuse in the operations group, with no sales management behind them any more. Clients will be enraged that this team is left to pick up the pieces."
Another source at one of the biggest global media agencies - i.e. one of those clients who could be enraged further down the line - told us: "The good people have been eeking out and going elsewhere since before Christmas, so writing on the wall maybe."
Why is the axe falling so severely and abruptly? <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/30/aohell/">TechCrunch is using the narrative AOL has been giving in its recent earnings calls</a> (the next quarterly earnings are due in February): That the company is shifting its business toward programmatic advertising. Programmatic allows marketers and agencies to buy advertising space through automated means, so there's less of a need for human sellers.
Our first source tells us this is mostly correct: AOL is moving toward more programmatic and platform-based products, while focusing its content efforts on the sites with the highest traffic, like the Huffington Post. But the best advertising comes off the back of the best relationships. And now AOL has fewer people left to build them.
An AOL spokesman confirmed to Business Insider an official announcement about the layoffs will be released today, but could not confirm a time.
The AOL layoffs come three months after <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/microsoft-advertising-sales-team-redundancies-2014-10?r=US">Microsoft laid off the vast majority of its global advertising salesforce</a>.

AOL insider: 'The sales team is getting annihilated today'

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:480px"><div class="image">Business Insider Video</div></div>There is gossip among industry sources that <keyword id="73644" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="AOL">AOL</keyword> has made a $375 million to $425 million offer to buy video ad tech startup Adap.tv.
We heard the rumor from a usually reliable, long-time source of ours who says he heard it from a banker works at one of the firms working on the deal.
Our source says Adap.tv has not yet told AOL if it will accept the deal or not.
We asked other people in the industry if they've heard this gossip, too.
A few had heard that Adap.tv is in play. One said he'd heard the same rumor we did.
We called a source at Adap.tv and he refused to comment.
Certainly buying Adap.tv makes some sense for AOL.
AOL's healthiest, fastest growing revenue stream comes from Ad.com – a banner ad business wherein ads are bought in real-time and targeted with all kinds of specialty data.
Buying Adap.tv would allow AOL to expand that business into video advertising, where the prices are much higher.
The problem is: $400 million is a lot of money for AOL to spend. It only has $467 million in cash on its balance sheet at the moment.
Founded in 2006, Adap.tv has raised about $50 million from VC firms such as Redpoint, Gemini, and Spark. <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-27/adap-tv-said-to-be-in-discussions-with-bankers-on-potential-ipo.html">In February, Bloomberg reported that it was considering an IPO.</a>
One banker source of ours says it would make some sense for Adap.tv to sell rather than IPO because the trading public might lump it in with Tremor, a weaker, already public company that describes itself with very similar language.

SCUTTLEBUTT: AOL Has Made A ~$400 Million Offer To Buy Adap.tv

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="AP" title_caption="Will Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer buy AOL?" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53a88c026bb3f77315cda5e4-960/marissa-mayer-cannes-lions-4.jpg"></a>APWill Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer buy AOL?</div></div></div>
After <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/alibaba-ipo-september-19-2014-9">Alibaba's initial public offering today</a>, Yahoo will have about $5.29 billion in cash to play with.
The big question is: What will Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer do with the money?
She could probably buy AOL if she wanted to.
Back in June 2012, Yahoo's interim CEO Ross Levinsohn and AOL CEO Tim Armstrong talked multiple times about such a deal. (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Marissa-Mayer-Fight-Save-Yahoo/dp/1455556610">I learned this working on my book, "Marissa Mayer and the Fight to Save Yahoo!"</a>)
Back then, AOL's market cap was around $1.5 billion. People on Yahoo's side of the talks felt like Armstrong would have sold for $2 billion.
Today, AOL's market cap is $3.3 billion. Between Yahoo's cash and stock - and the 400 million shares of Alibaba that Yahoo still owns - Yahoo could certainly come up with an offer to match the premium Armstrong wanted two years ago.
Owning AOL would certainly help Yahoo. Two reasons:
<ul>
<li>The companies are basically in the same business, and could eliminate a lot of costs upon their combination.</li>
<li>Unlike Yahoo, AOL is actually growing is revenues thanks to its Ad.com ad network and its video ad platform Adap.tv. The deal would be a rare accretive tech acquisition.</li>
</ul>
AOL would not be a very exciting purchase for Yahoo. It's an old company in an old business. Also, AOL isn't exactly a Wall Street darling. Investors don't expect much from it going forward, and they value AOL at 1.41X its trailing twelve months of sales. 
Believe it or not, that's a better multiple than investors are currently giving Yahoo's core business.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="REUTERS/Jim Urquhart " title_caption="CEO of AOL Tim Armstrong attends the Allen &amp; Co Media Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho July 12, 2012. " class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/52f7c2cf69bedd390a35704a-960/tim-armstrong-12.jpg"></a>REUTERS/Jim Urquhart CEO of AOL Tim Armstrong attends the Allen &amp; Co Media Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho July 12, 2012. </div></div></div>
As sensible and as doable as an AOL deal would be, it's unlikely Mayer will pull the trigger on it.
Her vision for Yahoo is of a company that helps consumers do things on their smartphones - share photos, check scores, read the news, message each other. It's more likely she will use the money to buy a company with growing mobile usage than growing revenues. She wants to buy the next Snapchat, and figure out how to monetize it later.
The trouble with that plan is that Facebook and Google also want to buy the next Snapchat. Also, VCs are willing to give those kinds of companies huge valuations and make their founders rich in the process.
Even with its $5 billion, Yahoo doesn't have enough cash to compete with rich VCs and Silicon Valley competitors. Maybe after it finally sells the rest of its Alibaba stock it will.
If Mayer does pull the trigger on AOL, it will be because of AOL's surprisingly large video ad business. During some recent quarters, AOL has actually served more video ads than Google, <a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2330600/Video-Ad-Views-Hit-26.9-Billion-in-January-SpotXchange-Jumps-to-1-Spot">according to ComScore</a>.
Mayer has tried to buy a company that increases Yahoo stock of video advertising inventory a couple times now.
She was close to buying Daily Motion in 2013. This summer, Yahoo was involved in talks to buy Twitch, the site where people watch other people play videogames.
Other likely targets are Hulu and Vevo.

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