Comcast, Viacom Shuffling Their Business Mix

It seems that it was only analysts who were worried about cord-cutters disrupting the cable providers’ business. Last quarter’s results from cable services provider Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) show that cord-cutting was a reaction to the recession. The improving economy is assuaging worries about cord-cutting as customers have been sticking with their cable providers and cable companies’ multi-service offerings keeping households engaged.

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Is Twitter’s Valuation Justified?

There has been a surge in the valuations of social networking companies. In a recent investment deal Facebook, which is estimated to have sales of nearly $2 billion in 2010, was valued at $65 billion. And in a recent auction of Twitter’s shares, investors valued the company at $7.7 billion. Twitter, which kicked off its monetization last year, is estimated to have generated just $45 million in revenue in 2010. Are such high valuations justified? >>>

WebMD’s Top 10 Mobile Health Apps

The widespread use of digital media by online health marketers is a point of concern in a complaint by consumer and privacy watchdog groups to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The commission has been asked to investigate regarding “unfair and deceptive advertising practices” available to consumers online. The group is concerned that while digital marketing is providing consumers with medical information, it is also engaging in activities that “threaten privacy, raise questions about the fair presentation of independent information, and advance the sales of prescription drugs and over-the-counter products.”

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LivingSocial Growing In Travel

BIA/Kelsey estimates that the U.S. “deal-a-day” market will reach $4 billion over the next four years. The researcher pegs the U.S. market to be worth $873 million in 2010. Further, according to the report, 178 cities in the U.S. are served by the various deal-a-day companies. These offers reach more than 102 million people in the country. Hitwise’s comparison statistics on group buying show that Groupon commands 79% of the U.S. market in group buying, and LivingSocial is a distant second with an 8% share.

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Can Facebook Justify A $65 Billion Valuation?

If Facebook, the social Web phenomenon, needed any more popularity, it got it through the Oscar-nominated movie, The Social Network. Based on the controversy surrounding Facebook’s founders, which arose from the claim that the concept was a rip-off of another social networking idea, Harvard Connection, the movie received eight Academy Award nominations, including one for best picture. The movie went on to win three Oscars, including one for best adapted screenplay. Meanwhile, Facebook has continued to grow and now has 600 million registered users. To ensure that these users remain engaged, the company is evaluating new models.

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A Peek Inside Zyngaville

According to eMarketer, social gaming revenues in the U.S. are expected to increase 28% over the year to $1.1 billion in 2011 driven by sales of virtual goods and advertising spending. Revenues from virtual good sales are projected to grow 28% over the year to $653 million and advertising revenues at 60% over the year to $192 million. Lead generation offers, the virtual currency incentives offered by marketers to players to sign up for social games, will grow at a modest 10% over the year to $248 million. Twenty-seven percent of Web surfers, or 62 million Internet users, in the United States are projected to play at least one game on a social network each month, compared with 53 million Web surfers last year. The forecast bodes well for the online social gaming developer, Zynga.

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Short-Term Troubles For ERI Don’t Dampen Prospects

According to the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), 1.8 billion people will be living in regions plagued by absolute water scarcity by the year 2025. The agency predicts that two-thirds of the global population will be under “water stress conditions.” Global water shortages will drive the need for efficient water supply solutions not only in the emerging markets like China, India, and Latin America, but also in the United States. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) predicts spending of $277 billion by 2020 to maintain present standards. The American Society of Civil Engineers pegs domestic infrastructure spending needs to reach $1 trillion over the next two decades. What’s more, early last year the California Department of Water Resources reported that drought conditions in the state’s Central Valley, its main agricultural region and provider of much produce to the entire United States, were so severe that farmers had to bulldoze orchards and artichoke fields for lack of water. In such conditions, water desalination will be a big growth industry. Annual production of desalinated water is expected to reach 14.2 trillion gallons by 2020. Water desalination players like Energy Recovery Inc. (NASDAQ: ERII) will benefit from this demand in the long run. But in the near future, they are still struggling.

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Talent Management Leans Toward Learning

The year 2010 saw a great deal of M&A activity in the talent management sector as Taleo (NASDAQ:TLEO) acquired Learn.com; SuccessFactors (NASDAQ:SFSF) acquired CubeTree, Inform, and YouCalc; and Kennexa acquired Salary.com. That trend looks set to continue this year: Taleo already announced an acquisition and Learn.com’s rival GeoLearning was acquired by talent management vendor SumTotal Systems. GeoLearning was a close partner for SuccessFactors, and this acquisition forces the latter to consider an acquisition in the space.

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Can Yelp Stand Up To Google’s Wrath?

One of the key trends of the previous decade has been that of local search and classifieds. Yelp is a leading player in the segment that leverages user-generated content in the form of local business reviews and ratings. By drawing on the concept of niche community, Yelp has been able to greatly expand the functions of the traditional Yellow Pages. This week, Yelp is in the news again as it tries to deal with Google’s ultimatum on free content or no search indexing. >>>

Groupon Fastest-Growing Company (Thus Far)?

By offering local service marketing using social Web behavior patterns, Groupon has taken local classifieds and group buying to a new level of precision and creativity. The site was in the news  last year when it turned down Google’s $6 billion offer. This is not surprising in the least considering the pace at which the company has grown. >>>