Here come more tech earnings this week, as investors hope the industry can help goose a still shaky economy.
But while the tech industry is healthy, relatively speaking, they probably should not hope too hard to be soaring anytime soon on Silicon Valley’s digital flying carpet.
In other words, down is still the new up.
In any case, on deck this week: IBM, Yahoo, Apple and Microsoft.
Yesterday, TechCrunch’s U.K. blogger Mike Butcher spun the tale of buyer’s remorse run amok with a report that Time Warner online unit AOL was “seriously considering selling Bebo, the social network it acquired for $850 million only a year ago,” citing poor performance and a bad advertising market.
Later, AOL went on the record saying “there is no truth to this rumor,” although Butcher insisted otherwise from his sources.
Well, actually, no. While Time Warner was crazy to pay that much for Bebo, it is not quite that nuts to sell it for bupkis.
That is all.
Wait, not all. The report that it has signed a bill of sale earlier this week that “definitely happened”: It definitely did not.
What is true: Bebo is raising money and it is open to selling and there has been interest. But, in two words: No sale.
Nonetheless, TechCrunch, the popular tech blog that has [...]
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.
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