Street Fight Daily: LivingSocial Layoffs, Google Buys Couponer
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.
LivingSocial Expected to Lay Off 400 in U.S. (Washington Business Journal)
LivingSocial Inc. is slated to launch a major round of layoffs Thursday, with as many as 400 job cuts expected across its U.S. workforce, according to sources with knowledge of the daily deal giant’s plans. Those cuts are expected to span a wide range of positions and markets, including in LivingSocial’s home turf of D.C., the sources said. It is not known how many will occur in D.C., where LivingSocial maintains six offices downtown.
Google Buys ‘Coupon’ Platform Incentive Targeting For Closed-Loop Marketing (Screenwerk)
Google has confirmed the acquisition of couponing platform Incentive Targeting, which has largely focused on the CPG and grocery segments. But there’s a much bigger picture here that is tied to Google’s mobile payments initiative as well as its advertising more broadly.
The Story Of Adku, and Why Andrew Mason Isn’t The Problem At Groupon (TechCrunch)
Now here’s the thing. There is one single common point that I’ve heard made by people familiar with recent Groupon departures: Andrew Mason was not the problem. In fact, I’ve been told that for many people, Andrew Mason was the only thing that kept them around at the company for as long as they were there.
Location-Based Mobile Ad Firm AdNear Secures $6.3m in Series A Funding (The Next Web)
Singapore and India-based mobile advertising startup AdNear has announced that it has closed a Series A round of funding of Rs 35 crore (roughly $6.3 million) from Sequoia Capital and Canaan Partners. The mobile advertising platform built by AdNear is based on real-time geo-location and works for both smartphones and feature phones.
Journalism as Service: Lessons from Sandy (Business Insider)
Jeff Jarvis: The other day, I argued that news should be seen as a service, not a product, and that journalists should measure their success not by column inches or by page views but by results. Sandy provides a good test-bed for this idea of outcomes-based journalism.
The Broadcastr Team Launches Its ‘Next Evolution’: Spun, A Local News App That Connects Content To Real-World Locations (TechCrunch)
Here’s an app with a more local take on personalized news — Spun, which aggregates a mix of content relevant to your city. Spun was created by the same startup behind Broadcastr, an app allowing users to create audio content and pin it to real-world locations.
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