Category: News

Spire Capital Partners said on Wednesday that it so far collected $100 million for its third fund which has a $375 million target. Spire Capital, which has offices in New York City and Pennsylvania, is a private equity firm that focuses on companies in a variety of sectors that include media, education, information services and communications.

PRESS RELEASE
NEW YORK, May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — We are pleased to announce that we have recently closed on $100 million in limited partnership commitments for Spire Capital Partners III, L.P. towards our $375 million target. Spire III is led by partners Andy Armstrong , Bruce Hernandez , David Schaible and Sean White .

We are now actively investing out of Spire III with a focus on small market lead and control investments in the business services, information services, media, education and communications sectors.

About Spire Capital Partners
Founded in 2000, Spire Capital is an active and experienced private equity firm with an investment focus on companies within the business services, information services, media, education and communications sectors. Spire Capital leads buyout investments in its areas of expertise and leverages its deep industry experience and network of relationships to help its portfolio companies to grow and succeed. For more information please visit www.spirecapital.com.

Note: The offering of LP interests in Spire Capital Partners III, LP was in a private placement exempt from registration under Regulation D. Spire III has filed a Form D with the SEC.

SOURCE Spire Capital Partners

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Google took the warps off its long-rumored music subscription service at its Google I/O developer conference Wednesday, wich is dubbed Google Play Music All Access. “Music unites us, it’s universal,” Chris Yerga, Android Engineering Director, said when he introduced the service during Wednesday’s keynote. “But what if we gave you access to millions of songs?”

The service will be available on Android devices as well as on the web. It’s priced $9.99, and will roll out today. Users who start their trial by June 30th will get a reduced price of $7.99 per month.

All Access will have a kind of radio mode that automatically generates playlists based on the songs people listen to, similarly to Google’s music locker service but obviously with a much larger catalog. “This is radio without rules. It’s as leanback as you want to or as interactive as you want to,” Yerga said.

Notably absent from the announcement was any mention of the record labels that Google was able to sign contracts with. Also no mention of any of Google’s streaming subscription service competitors, or ways Google wants to differentiate itself from Spotify & Co.

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General Lighting Co, a Saudi Arabian company part-owned by Carlyle Group, plans to sell its shares on the Saudi stock market, paving the way for the private equity firm to exit its stake, Reuters is reporting.

(Reuters) – General Lighting Co, a Saudi Arabian company part-owned by Carlyle Group, plans to sell its shares on the Saudi stock market, paving the way for the private equity firm to exit its stake, two sources said.

General Lighting is the largest lighting company in Saudi Arabia and Carlyle acquired its 30 percent stake in the firm for an undisclosed amount in March 2010.

Washington D.C.-based Carlyle, which had assets under management of $176 billion at the end of March, has hired Riyadh-based GIB Capital and law firm Latham & Watkins to help arrange the initial public offering (IPO), the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the matter is not public.

Saudi Arabia is the largest Gulf Arab stock market and the only bourse in the region where initial share sales have been active in the last few years.

Companies in Saudi Arabia generally offer 30 percent of their capital in IPO. A spokeswoman for Carlyle in London declined to comment. Dow Jones newswire reported the IPO filing plan earlier in the day.

Carlyle raised $500 million in 2007 for its debut fund in the region. The fund now has stakes in six companies in its portfolio, including Turkish lingerie and swim wear maker Penti and Jordanian firm Nabil Foods, which the firm bought in May.

It has not exited any of its investments in the region so far. Carlyle owns a 40-percent stake in Turkish hospitals group Medical Park and London-based private equity fund Pamplona Capital Management is in exclusive talks to buy a majority stake in the firm, a source close to the matter told Reuters in April.

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Ron Weaver, a long-time daytime TV producer, has died at the age of 75. He was best known as a long-time producer of the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful.

According to an obituary in the Hollywood Reporter, Weaver died at his home in Los Angeles on Thursday, May 9. The cause of his death has not been released.

Weaver began his career at WCBS in New York, and then moved on to become a producer for Children’s Television Workshop. There he was involved in creating classic kids shows such as Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and 3-2-1 Contact.

He joined The Bold and the Beautiful in 1986 as an associate producer, helping to launch the soap opera. During his 27 years with the show he rose to become a senior producer and eventually vice president of BBL Distribution. He, along with other The Bold and the Beautiful producers, received three Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series during his time with the show.

At Google I/O 2013, Hugo Barra, Product Management, Android announced an update to Google Play Services, a service that allows developers to integrate Google services, like Maps, into their third party apps. These updates bring more APIs to Google Play Services.

The first update is for developers who use Google Maps in their apps. The Google Maps API was updated to allow people to use the 3D MapsGL maps within apps.

Speaking of maps, three Location APIs have been integrated into Google Play Services. The first API is called the Fused Location Provider which acquires locations faster while using less power. The second – geofencing – allows developers to fence off virtual areas in maps. The third – activity recognition – allows maps to take different methods of transportation into account.

Next up, Google Play Services gets cross platform sign on via the Google+ sign on functionality. In other words, users who are signed into Google+ on an app will remain signed in via Google+ when moving to another Android device.

The final addition to Google Play Services are three updates to the popular Google Cloud Messaging platform. The first – persistent connection – ensures that servers maintain a constant connection to apps to deliver messages and notifications to players. The second – upstream messaging – allows apps to communicate with the server. The third feature will sync notifications across devices. In other words, dismissing a notification on an Android phone will dismiss the same notification on a tablet.

Alongside Google Play Services, Google announced a new family of APIs called Google Play Game Services. As the name implies, it’s Google’s version of Game Center for Android. It allows developers to integrate cloud saves, achievements, leaderboards and online multiplayer into their Android games. The live demo of the multiplayer was unfortunately cut short as the networking environment in the Moscone Center is unfriendly to wireless connections.

While the Play Store has no shortage of emulators and knockoffs of classic games, karate-adventure Karateka Classic will be available to play tomorrow (May 16th) for the first time since the 80s in its complete, remastered glory. Perform cool jump kicks and save the princess in an unparalleled retro setting for just a dollar when Karateka launches on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store tomorrow.

To add to the awesome throwback feel players have the option of revisiting Karateka on a monochrome screen with the sound of floppy disks sputtering along in the background. Hit the break for a trailer and remember to grab Karateka tomorrow when it launches!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Source: Karateka Official Site

Come comment on this article: Karateka Classic: Director’s Cut launches tomorrow for Android and iOS for a buck

Funding Profiles said on Wednesday that it has received initial seed investment. The investor is a Facebook executive whose name has not been disclosed. Also, Funding Profiles has been selected to join the VentureChoice Incubation Program, which provides early stage companies with resources and expertise. A provider of financial software solutions, Funding Profiles is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has offices in Seattle, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.

PRESS RELEASE

SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Enterprise finance software vendor Funding Profiles announced today that it has been selected to join the VentureChoice Incubation Program (VIP) (http://www.venturechoice.com/portfolio.htm) aiming “towards accelerated business growth and increased exposure to the investment community.” Simultaneously, the company said that it had received initial seed investment.

“We are very pleased with our selection to the VIP program and the caliber of our investor. Through VentureChoice we gain access to valuable resources, exposure and support from experienced industry veterans to build a lasting business of significant value.”

The VentureChoice VIP Program is designed to provide innovative early-stage companies with resources, expertise, and Private Equity investor exposure. The VentureChoice Team evaluates hundreds of technology companies each year to identify those with the strongest potential for success in the marketplace. Companies are selected to join the program based on innovation, marketability, growth potential, funding requirements, and overall value to their customers. These companies are provided with guidance and support designed to assist their growth strategy and increase market visibility.
Funding Profiles also confirmed seed investment from a Facebook (NASD:FB) executive. Madison Laird, CEO of Funding Profiles stated: “We are very pleased with our selection to the VIP program and the caliber of our investor. Through VentureChoice we gain access to valuable resources, exposure and support from experienced industry veterans to build a lasting business of significant value.”
Funding Profiles recently announced public availability of the company’s first software product. With thousands of ready-to-use charts and graphs, The Funding Profile Generator™ helps Finance, Planning and Analysis (FP&A) groups express the results of their work – consolidation, reporting, forecasting, planning, variance explanation, guidance, modeling, etc. – in visual, strategic terms.
About Funding Profiles
Funding Profiles makes solutions for finance departments that want to contribute to an enterprise’s strategy beyond just numbers. Funding Profiles’ solutions integrate with existing business applications and data sources to continuously translate traditional financial metrics into the language of business strategy. Using solutions from Funding Profiles, finance teams can express plans, targets, actuals, forecasts, or scenarios in strategic perspectives any business leader can appreciate. Funding Profiles is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has locations in Seattle, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.

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Advent International has named Michael Ming-Yue Zhu as an operating partner. Zhu is country general manager of Solvay China.  Advent has also tapped William Tsao as an industry advisor for China’s chemicals sector. Advent International is a global private equity firm with offices in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

PRESS RELEASE
SHANGHAI – May 15, 2013 – Advent International, the global private equity firm, today announced that it has appointed Michael Ming-Yue Zhu, Country General Manager of Solvay China, to its Operating Partner Program. Mr. Zhu will advise Advent on investment opportunities in the chemicals sector, one of the firm’s core sectors. Advent has also appointed William Tsao, who worked at DuPont for more than 35 years, as an industry advisor in the chemicals sector in China.

Mr. Zhu is a highly respected executive in the Chinese chemicals sector and has over 30 years of industry and government experience. He has recently assumed the position as China Country General Manager of Solvay following its merger with Rhodia, where he has worked since 1994. During his tenure at Rhodia, he has been a driving force behind the company’s growth, including building 12 new factories and acquiring six local Chinese firms. Prior to Rhodia, Mr. Zhu was head of ICI’s Shanghai representative office and was instrumental in setting up three joint ventures for ICI in China.

In the 1980s, Mr. Zhu worked at two government organizations, the Economic Commission of the P.R.C. and the Chemical Industry Bureau of Wuxi, Jiangsu province. He also plays an active role in industry associations and is a Vice Chairman of AICM (Association of International Chemical Manufacturers) and Vice Chairman of ECFIC (Executive Committee of Foreign Investment Corporations).

This is the first appointment made to Advent’s Operating Partner Program in China, following the opening of its Shanghai office in April. Advent’s Operating Partner Program is a long-established and successful element of the firm’s highly operational approach to investing. The Program includes over 60 senior industry executives, a number of whom have been involved in multiple Advent investments. These executives typically assist in activities such as identifying attractive investment opportunities, conducting due diligence and creating and driving value creation plans for Advent’s portfolio companies.

William Tsao, during his long tenure at DuPont, held leadership roles in various disciplines and business units in Taiwan, Singapore, Bangkok and Shanghai. In his last position with the company, he headed up DuPont’s entire Performance Coating business in China.

Filippo de Vecchi, Advent Managing Director and Co-head of Greater China, said: “We are delighted to partner with Mr. Zhu and Mr. Tsao, who bring valuable industry experience and local expertise to Advent globally and to our portfolio companies. The chemicals sector is a core area of focus for Advent in China. We are committed to helping our portfolio companies in this sector achieve expansion and long-term sustainable performance.”

Commenting on his new role, Michael Zhu said: “Advent‘s sector-focused approach and partnership culture is well regarded. It has a proven track record of successfully helping portfolio companies grow and succeed, and I am excited to be part of such a distinguished institution. I look forward to working closely with the Advent team to identify opportunities in leading Chinese companies and help the firm’s global portfolio companies expand in this market.”

Advent has been active in the chemicals industry for more than 25 years and has invested in over 30 companies in the sector globally. The firm has developed a strong track record in carving out these businesses from multinational corporations and enabling them to become successful independent companies. Advent’s recent investments in the chemicals sector include Cytec, H.C. Starck, Maxam, Mondo Minerals, Oxea and Vinnolit.

About Advent International

Founded in 1984, Advent International is one of the largest and most experienced global investors dedicated solely to private equity. Since inception, the firm has raised $37 billion and invested in more than 280 buyout transactions in 36 countries, achieving over 210 full or partial exits. With offices on four continents, Advent has established a globally integrated team of over 170 investment professionals across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. The firm focuses on growth and traditional buyout and strategic repositioning transactions across five core sectors, including business and financial services; healthcare;industrial; retail, consumer and leisure; and technology, media and telecoms. After 29 years dedicated to international private equity, Advent remains committed to partnering with management teams to deliver sustained revenue and earnings growth for portfolio companies.

For more information, visit www.adventinternational.com.

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The Google I/O Keynote is here and we have some fun stats for you. Not only has Android grown as the OS of choice for mobile users, but the platform has grown at an extraordinary pace. Activations have gone from 200 million activations in 2011 to a stunning 900 million activations as of today. While there are 7 billion people on the planet, the fact that Android accounts for nearly 1/7th of the world’s population is a impressive feat. Complimenting the number of activations is the stunning tally of 48 billion app installs, with an eye-popping 2.5 billion app installs in the last few months alone. Yes friends—- the Android platform is not just kicking some ass— but it’s here to stay.

Come comment on this article: Google I/O 2013 Keynote: Android activations account for nearly 1/7th of the world’s population with 900 million total activations

You knew there would be the obligatory numbers flexing for Android today, and Google didn’t waste a lot of time (unless you count the time they took to play a pointless animation leading up to the stat).

Sundar Pichai kicked off the Google I/O keynote talking about Google’s various platforms, and announced that Android is now up to 900 million activations in 2013.

He noted that there are seven billion people on the planet, and that Google thinks “the journey is just getting started.”

Most of the world has Android penetration of less than ten percent, but it’s growing very fast, according to Pichai. The focus is to get these people online.

Google has seen 48 billion app installs from Google Play, with 2.5 billion installs in the last month alone, and paid out more money to developers this year already than all of last year. Revenue per user is two and a half times what it was a year ago (globally), the company says.

Here are some of the key data points coming out of Google’s 2013 I/O keynote:

• Android device activations: Google has activated 900 million Android devices. The announcement comes just two months after Android hit another milestone: In March, Google chairman Eric Schmidt said that the mobile operating system had surpassed 750 million activated devices, with more than 250 million activations in the six preceding months alone. At last year’s I/O, Google announced 400 million activated devices.
• Google Play: now clocks more than 2.5 billion installs every month. Altogether, Google Play has seen 48 billion app downloads since it launched as the Android Market in late 2008.
• Google Cloud Messaging: 60 percent of top on apps in Google Play today are using Google Cloud Messaging, and they’re pushing 17 billion messages per day.
• Google Chrome: 750 million active users of Chrome.

Our live coverage can be found here.

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It’s hard to fault 43-year-old Brett Favre‘s Career. During his nearly 20 years in the NFL, the former quarterback made the Pro Bowl 11 times and holds NFL records for the most passing touchdowns, most passing yards, most passing completions, and most wins. When Favre left the Green Bay Packers in 2007, however, fans were hurt that their quarterback of 15 years ended up playing for the New York Jets and the Minnesota Vikings.

Now, it appears the Packers organization is attempting to smooth things over with their greatest quarterback. According to a Fox Sports Wisconsin interview with Packers CEO Mark Murphy, the Packers want Favre “back in the family.” Murphy cited Favre’s appearance with current Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers at a recent NFL Honors show as a “first step” in bringing Favre “back into the fold.”

Rodgers has also made similar statements on an ESPN radio show, revealing that he spoke with Favre and carefully helped organized the two’s handshake during the show. The Packer’s organization is hoping the event will symbolically begin healing the rift between the team and Favre that began in 2007.

“It didn’t take a lot of coaxing for me to do it,” said Rodgers. “I did want to sit and think about whether it was the right thing to do. I really feel very secure in my position with the team and feel good about the things that we’ve been able to accomplish in my five years as the starter, and feel good about the direction the organization is going in.

“Brett is two years removed from the game. He’s going to obviously be in the Packers Hall of Fame. He’ll get his number retired, and he’ll be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the next few years. It’s important, I think, to make sure that he’s recognized for all the accomplishments that he’s achieved in our organization especially. He’s still very dear to many of our fans for the things that he’s done for the Packers on the field. You can never take that away.”

Google is holding its Google I/O day 1 keynote at 9am PT and you can watch it right here on BetaNews.

We will of course be bringing you stories covering all the big announcements as they happen.
Rumors of what to expect include a revamped Google Maps, Android 4.3, a new music service set to rival Spotify, and even a Google branded Galaxy S4. Let’s see which of those comes true.

Sit back and enjoy the fun. And feel free to comment as the keynote unfolds.

Humans engage with their world in two reciprocal ways: firstly as passionate participants and secondly as detached observers. As managers we cycle between these modes constantly. It’s the mark of a great manager to be able to judge, in a complex situation, when and how to use each of them.

Detached observation requires a certain maturity. Consider that we are born into the world immersed in context. We are embodied organisms, fine-tuned by evolution to garner cues to action from our surroundings. We pay attention when we see a face and smile when we are smiled at. We learn to walk and talk without explicit instruction. From about the age of seven onward, however, we develop the capacity for perspective-taking. We learn to distance ourselves from the world and to swap our roles as involved participants for positions as distant observers.

When we attend school and university we discover the spectrum of disciplines available to us to observe the complexity of the world and learn about it. On the “left” are the fine arts, whose methods are basically analogical. They simulate our experience of complexity using many different media: their role is integrative — to make meaning. On the “right” are the hard sciences, whose methods are analytical. Each of these right-hand fields develops its own style of abstraction to study different aspects of reality: their role is to dissect complexity and to explain. In the middle of this spectrum are the liberal arts and the mongrel discipline that we call “management”. As Peter Drucker often contended, management is neither an art nor a science, but a practice with aspects of each. Its role is both to explain and to make meaning.

Ever since Descartes, the detached, rational objectivity of the observer has been prized over all other forms of knowledge. Applied to the study of matter and things it has generated huge benefits for humankind. However, the Cartesian agenda was always an imperial one and, emboldened by its success on the right, it has marched ever leftward on the spectrum of the disciplines. In the social sciences, the program has been much less successful. In management, in particular, it is clear that people, unlike objects, react poorly if they sense they are being treated as items; their behavior becomes erratic and unpredictable. People want to be regarded as ends-in-themselves, not as instruments of another’s purpose.

The reality of organizations is that they are both social and technical systems, comprising both people and things. And they have twin tasks to attend to — the pursuit of “today’s business” and the creation of “tomorrow’s business”. The first task is usually more technical and the second is more social, but it’s always “both…and” and never “either/or”. The key to good management, then, is never to forget this duality; it is using both modes of engagement in dynamic situations, where our means are always threatening to run away with our ends. This, by the way, explains the enduring appeal of Peter Drucker’s writings to practicing managers. The interplay of social and technical, the organization as it is experienced and as it is analyzed, is the space where he spent his entire career.

This mongrel quality of management, always combining the twin modes of our worldly engagement, is what I want to reassert as work proceeds to bring complexity science into our realm. Complexity thinking has much to commend it, but we must never forget that its intellectual foundations were laid in the 1940s and 50s, during the era of high modernity. Then it was thought that the methods of positive science would sweep all before them: today that project has been abandoned. These philosophical changes, however, seem barely to have registered either in complexity thought or in management. One frequently finds complex human systems lumped together with inanimate ones (like the weather!) and the position of the detached observer is still privileged. This violates one of the few certainties in managing human organizations: that the blurring of task and person marks the road to ruin. The two must be kept distinct, yet joined. The role of the passionate participant must always embrace that of the intellectual spectator. The “who” and “why” of our concerns should constantly enfold the “what” and “how” of our methods. We must seek explanations, but only in the perpetual pursuit of meaning.

With maturity, a person gains the ability to detach from passionate participation in a system and rigorously observe its overall shape and workings. But the most detached observers do not make the best managers; the wise ones know that after all the analysis is done, they still have to throw themselves back into the mix. We need a hybrid vigor for our mongrel discipline of management: one that draws its energy from both the ways we engage with our complex world.

This post is part of a series of perspectives leading up to the fifth annual Global Drucker Forum in November 2013 in Vienna, Austria. For more on the theme of the event, Managing Complexity, and information on how to attend, see the Forum’s website.

Newly designed maps covering Kentucky and Tennessee are now available online for free download

US Topo maps now have a crisper, cleaner design – enhancing readability of maps for online and printed use. Map symbols are easier to read over the digital aerial photograph layer whether the imagery is turned on or off. Improvements to symbol definitions (color, line thickness, line symbols, area fills), layer order, and annotation fonts are additional features of this supplemental release. Users can now adjust the transparency for some features and layers to increase visibility of multiple competing layers.

This new design is launched on new US Topo quadrangles for Kentucky (671 maps) and Tennessee (694 maps), which replace the first edition US Topo maps for those states. The replaced maps will be added to the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection and are also available for free download from The National Map and the USGS Map Store website. 

“The new Kentucky and Tennessee US Topo maps demonstrate our commitment to improving the product design to meet our users’ needs”, said Mark DeMulder, Director of the USGS National Geospatial Program. “I encourage you to download these maps, compare them against the previous US Topo map and drop us your comments on the US Topo map product. Your input is important to us.”

US Topo maps are updated every three years, with the initial round completed last September. Maps for Hawaii are currently in production with Alaska production starting later this year.

Re-design enhancements and new features:

• Crisper, cleaner design improves online and printed readability while retaining the look and feel of traditional USGS topographic maps
• New functional road classification schema has been applied
• A slight screening (transparency) has been applied to some features to enhance visibility of multiple competing layers
• Updated free fonts that support diacritics
• New PDF Legend attachment
• Metadata formatted to support multiple browsers
• New shaded relief layer for enhanced view of the terrain
• Military installation boundaries, post offices and cemeteries

US Topo maps are created from geographic datasets in The National Map, and deliver visible content such as high-resolution aerial photography, which was not available on older paper-based topographic maps. The new US Topo maps provide modern technical advantages that support wider and faster public distribution and on-screen geographic analysis tools for users.

The new digital electronic topographic maps are delivered in GeoPDF image software format and may be viewed using Adobe Reader, available as a no cost download.

For more information, go to: http://nationalmap.gov/ustopo/