Yelp Shifts Focus From Daily Deals To Mobility

Online review site Yelp is slowly moving ahead with their IPO plans. They had been scouting for a CFO with an IPO experience earlier this summer and filled the position by hiring Rob Krolik, former CFO of Shopping.com. Given the present bearish market conditions, Yelp is now looking for an IPO launch by next year.

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Chinese E-Commerce Company DangDang Faces Challenges

According to Bloomberg data, last year, Chinese companies raised $107 billion in IPOs, amounting to 38% of the global total. Chinese Internet companies are leading the brigade in listing at the U.S. stock exchanges. DangDang, the Chinese e-retailer, listed on the NYSE in December 2010.

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Like Groupon, LivingSocial Spreading Thin Internationally

If recent market data on the daily deals site were to be analyzed, it would appear that the overall market share of leading deal providers is rather fickle. The market share for these sites is dependent largely on the quality of offers they come up with. According to research firm, Yipit, LivingSocial has been quietly gaining ground over the past few months. In May of this year, LivingSocial saw their market share reach 24% compared with 20% a month ago. During the same period, Groupon’s market share fell from 52% in April to 48% in May. In July, though, the trend reversed: Groupon’s market share expanded to 49% while LivingSocial’s fell to 21%. With players like Facebook and Google entering a market estimated to be worth $2.7 billion this year, competition will be all the more interesting and dynamic. No wonder both Groupon and LivingSocial are in a big rush to get their IPOs through.

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ERII, A Battered BUY

According to report published by SRI Consulting Process Economics Program titled “Reverse Osmosis for Seawater Desalination,” large-scale seawater reverse osmosis growth rates will increase at rates of more than 15% annually in China and the U.S. after 2015. The researcher expects that by that time, these two countries will have established both the financial and political models needed to be able to pursue large-scale plant projects. The current market conditions, however, are making it tough for countries to put money toward high-investment desalination projects.

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Intuit Performs Despite SMB Woes

Small and medium-sized businesses in the U.S. are rather pessimistic about the current economic conditions. In a recent survey of 1,719 CEOs of SMBs, 31% of the respondents surveyed expect the performance of the country’s economy to improve over the course of the year. A quarter ago, that number stood at nearly 50%. Most CEOs are worried about the lack of consumer demand, which is leading them to delay investment in plants, equipment, and people. Fifty-two percent of those surveyed confirmed plans of holding back on permanent hires and compared with 48% a quarter ago, and 42% of those surveyed said they planned to invest in new plants and equipment. Despite the dim outlook, accounting and tax software solutions provider Intuit (Nasdaq:INTU) continued to deliver strong business results driven by their continuous expansion into the SMB sector.

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Newly Public Zillow Shines In Otherwise Damp Sector

According to market reports, the total market for local real estate listing is expected to be worth $6 billion annually. Online real estate listing services provider Zillow is hoping to tap into this market. The company recently went public, and unlike other Internet companies, which are having a tough time keeping up their valuations in the current market conditions, Zillow seems to be finding the task relatively easy.

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Zynga In Facebook’s Pocket?

Zynga did not disappoint analysts, who were expecting it to file for an IPO earlier this summer. With IPO documents filed in July of this year, Zynga plans to raise $1 billion at a valuation of $15 billion to $20 billion. Researcher eMarketer has projected online gaming revenues in the U.S. to grow to $1.1 billion this year from $0.86 billion last year. Surely Zynga is hoping to cash in on this growth.

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Groupon Following Yahoo-esque Strategy – A Bad Move

In June of this year, Groupon filed their S-1, ending speculation about their IPO plans. However, since then, not only has the company been impacted by unfavorable news, but the present volatile market conditions has also raised doubts on the feasibility of an IPO that was expected to raise $750 million at a valuation of $20 billion. Groupon’s IPO was expected in the fall of this year.

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Facebook Overvalued, But Excellent

A few months ago, I mentioned how I believe Facebook’s valuation of $65 billion was unjustifiable. But the valuation continues to grow. According to recent estimates, the company is now valued at close to $100 billion. Given that Facebook’s revenue model remains largely unchanged, my lack of resonance with such high valuations persists. Many ask at Silicon Valley parties these days: Is there a bubble? Well, yes, there is. That doesn’t change the fact that Facebook is an excellent company. It is, however, overvalued.

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Reiterating: Dell Needs To Acquire RIM

Declining PC sales have pulled down the quarterly forecasts of all major PC manufacturers, and Dell was no exception. In the recent quarter, Dell’s market share slipped from 23.6% last year to 22.6% this year. The market conditions have recently led to the announcement of HP’s plans to spin off its PC segment, although that decision also comes from HP’s new CEO Leo Apothekar’s DNA mis-match with hardware businesses. The news seemed to bolster the rather depressed Dell stock. Analysts believe that Dell will be able to gain market share by attracting customers from HP. The market had shown a similar trend when Dell had gained IBM’s and Compaq’s customers when IBM sold their PC business to Lenovo and when Compaq was acquired by HP.

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