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Sunday, July 5, 2009

New VC Marc Andreessen Speaks About Going to the “Dark Side” and More!

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It’s finally official: Marc Andreessen has crossed over to what he once called “the dark side” and is now a venture capitalist.

Several weeks ago, BoomTown broke the news that the Silicon Valley legend and serial entrepreneur and his longtime investing partner, Ben Horowitz, had completed the raising of $300 million for a new venture fund.

And, indeed, the new firm–which is made up of just the two–is now launched and called Andreessen Horowitz.

Of course, I had done a video interview with Andreessen with my Flip.

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Friday, June 12, 2009

Andreessen and Horowitz Complete Raising Dough for $300-Million Venture Fund–Let the Seed Investing Begin!

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Even in the midst of a tough investing environment, Silicon Valley legend and serial entrepreneur Marc Andreessen and his longtime investing partner, Ben Horowitz, have completed the raising of his new venture fund, according to the numerous sources close to the situation, and it is oversubscribed.

Sources said the fund–which was nicknamed “Project A,” but is actually called Andreessen Horowitz–will be $300 million. It is $50 million over the $250 million he and Horowitz had planned.

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Friday, April 24, 2009

Project Playlist Names Former MTV Exec Sykes as CEO, Replacing Van Natta

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Legendary former MTV Networks exec and co-founder John Sykes will replace outgoing CEO Owen Van Natta as CEO of the controversial music-sharing site, Project Playlist.

He is a high-profile choice to take over for Van Natta, who was officially named CEO of MySpace this morning by News Corp.

Sykes is well regarded in the music industry, an important criterion since Playlist has been dealing with legal attacks from some music labels. Settling with them will be key to the start-up’s survival.

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Friday, February 20, 2009

Marc Andreessen Crosses Over to the “Dark Side” With New Venture Fund (Here’s the Video)

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Last night, well-known Internet entrepreneur Marc Andreessen appeared on the “Charlie Rose” interview show, talking about the digital sector and unveiling the news that he is creating a new venture fund.

I had heard rumblings about Andreessen’s funding efforts earlier this week, with sources I talked to jokingly nicknaming it “Project A.”

Actually, Andreessen said the new firm is called Andreessen Horowitz (zzzz), because he is doing it with longtime investing partner Ben Horowitz.

“For the first time in my life, I am crossing over into the dark side,” said Andreessen.

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Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Michael Wolff Has Been Trash-Talking the Internet Since 1998–See the Video!

Ah, Michael Wolff! Always throwing stink bombs and making deliciously wackadoo declarations about the Internet.

In a recent dinner interview the author had with BusinessWeek’s media columnist Jon Fine this week, Wolff slaps around News Corp. social network MySpace, with a series of his trash-buckling phrases, some of which are true and some a bit more of a stretch.

But it’s par for the course for Wolff, as you can see here in an appearance with BoomTown on the “Charlie Rose” show a decade ago.

“It’s craziness, it’s loco, it makes no sense,” said Wolff about the Internet, circa July 27, 1998. And later: “I think the myth of the Internet is that it is going to come into everybody’s home.”

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Monday, August 27, 2007

Monday Morning Quarterback: The Can’t-We-All-Get-Along Edition

Interoperate’s Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose: Here is that video from MarketWatch about the joint interview PBS’s Charlie Rose did with John Chambers of Cisco and Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, where they trotted out that old saw about coopetition. In other words, how the tech giants might compete, but also …

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Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Steve Ballmer Hoo-Ha Reveals Yahoo Nightmare Scenario

Could Yahoo ever become a takeover target?

This kind of patently annoying answer from a CEO could certainly help fuel such a scenario–this time in an interview Microsoft head Steve Ballmer had yesterday with Charlie Rose:

Rose: Are you in talks to acquire Yahoo?
Ballmer: If I were, I wouldn’t say anything, and if I weren’t, I wouldn’t say anything.

Translation for those who don’t speak corporate hoo-ha: There were talks. They did not work out as yet. But we thought we could still keep Yahoo into play all by ourselves by being vague.

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About Kara

Kara Swisher started covering digital issues for The Wall Street Journal's San Francisco bureau in 1997 and also wrote the BoomTown column about the sector. With Walt Mossberg, she co-produces and co-hosts D: All Things Digital, a major high-tech and media conference. Read more »

Ethics Statement

Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.

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