Analyze This:
Morningstar strategist
Paul Larson says to 'sell'
Groupon as 1) the business does not scale well; 2) short-term advantages are neither durable nor profitable; and 3) the business model is unproven. "Competitors like
Google and
Facebook have deep pockets and more compelling assets to leverage daily deals," he said.
In Court: The
Dept. of Justice has warned a handful of major media companies that it plans on suing them for allegedly colluding to raise the price of e-books.
WSJ says some parties are trying to settle out of court. Caught in the mix are
Apple,
CBS and
News Corp. Read more.
IPO:
Facebook added 25 underwriters to an original group of six for its IPO and boosted its financial muscle with a new credit line and bridge loan.
WSJ has details.
$$$:
Forbes' annual list of the world's billionaires says
EchoStar's
Charlie Ergen has overtaken
Philip Anschutz as the richest Coloradoan. (MediaBiz
is located in Denver.) The pub says Ergen's net worth is $8.3B, making him the 106th wealthiest person on the planet.
Liberty Media's
John Malone is worth $4.5B (No. 199). The world's richest man? Mexico's
Carlos Slim with a net worth of, ahem, $69B.
Full details here.
M&A:
Credit Suisse has reportedly purchased
Google's 6.5% stake in
Clearwire for $66.5M. Google paid $500M for the shares in 2008.
QRs:
Nexstar Broadcasting posted a 35% increase in retrans revenue to $10.3M during its Q4 and a 25% increase for FY11 to $29.9M.
More news in the Morning BRIDGE…
early tomorrow in your in-box. •
