Elon Musk Makes A Deal To Buy Twitter

On Monday April 25, Twitter announced it had reached a deal with billionaire Elon Musk for him to purchase the company for 44 billion dollars. This was the culmination of a series of events that began on April 4 when it was revealed he had bought 9.2 percent of it's stock, making him the largest shareholder. There was speculation that he would join the executive board. But instead he stated he had no intention. Instead on April 14, he announced he was offering to buy all of Twitter's stock. The immediate reaction of the board was to adopt a "poison pill" strategy, or limit anyone from owning more than 15% of the company. But apparently negotiations went on behind the scenes, and the board agreed to Musk's offer.

In a statement announcing the deal, Musk would say, "Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated. I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it."

With 83 million followers, Musk is already one of Twitter's most high profile users. He's also made some controversial statements. Reaction to news of the purchase had a political divide. Conservatives tended to view the buyout with optimism and cheers, many feeling Twitter has been biased against them and restricts free speech. Liberals tended to feel worry and concern, wondering if his efforts to encourage free speech might mean fewer filters against hateful rhetoric and what environmentalists consider mistruths about the climate debate.

Sources: BBC News, CNN, PR Newswire

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Microsoft Announces It's Buying Activision/Blizzard

 

In what would be the biggest computer gaming business acquisition in business history, yesterday on Tuesday January 18 Microsoft announced it was buying Activision/Blizzard. The deal would be at 68.7 billion US dollars, or about $95 a share.

“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella would state, “We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.”

Activision/Blizzard is best known for the well-known MMORPG World of Warcraft. But has also been successful in games such as Overwatch, Hearthstone, Diablo, Starcraft, and Call of Duty.

Microsoft had already been a company heavily invested in gaming such as with it's X-Box and having acquired the popular Minecraft some years ago. The deal would make it the third largest gaming company. It is notable that while Minecraft's maker Majong was acquired while both the game and company were doing well, in recent months Activision/Blizzard has suffered a series of blows, most notably a rash of sexual harassment allegations. It's stocks have sunk more than 37% since it's high last year. Activision/Blizzard's CEO Robert Kotick would continue for now, though is expected to step down once the deal closes, which may take as long as a year and a half to complete.

Sources: Microsoft, Reuters, The Verge

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BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump Buys Linden Lab, Promises to "Make Second Life Great Again"

Update: April Fool's

In a move that was completely unexpected, Linden Lab announced that it had been purchased by the Trump Organization, the primary holding company for the businesses and investments by Donald Trump, the billionaire and media personality whom recently has been making news as a leading candidate in the US Presidential election later this year.

"We at Linden Lab are happy to announce our merger with the Trump Organization," Ebbe Altberg, the CEO of the owner of the virtual world announced, "Our new partnership will allow us to make developments in virtual reality like never before."

In an official statement by Donald Trump, he stated he had been impressed by past accomplish- ments by enterpenurers in the virtual world, such as Anshe Chung. and was looking forward to attracting new ones. It had also gotten his attention that among the users in the Gird were supporters of his, such as those in Second Life's own Trump Organization, and planned on making an appearance inworld soon, "Second Life is full of all kinds of people, smart people, socially upward, socially awkward, I love the socially awkward."

Developments are still coming in on what is clearly a turning point in both Linden Lab and Second Life.

For more information: Click Here.

Microsoft buys Mojang for 2.5 Billion, Founder "Notch" Persson to Depart

Following reports that the two companies were in talks, yesterday on September 15, Mojang, the makers of the highly popular "Minecraft" game announced that they were indeed being bought up by the Microsoft corporation. The selling price was listed at 2.5 Billion dollars.

In a statement on their website, the spokesman tried to reassure Minecraft fans "Everything is going to be OK." As for why the company was being sold, "Minecraft has grown from a simple game to a project of monumental significance. Though we're massively proud of what Minecraft has become, it was never Notch's intention for it to get this big." They felt only a few companies were big enough to continue to allow the game to grow "on the scale it deserves." As they had worked with Microsoft since 2012, they were "impressed by the continued dedication to our game and it's development. We're confident that Minecraft would continue in an awesome way." Although the three people who founded the company were leaving, most of the team was planning to stay.

On his personal website, "Notch" Persson, the man who made Minecraft, gave his own statement. "I make games because it's fun," he wrote, "... but I don't make games with the intention of them becoming huge hits, and I don't try to change the world. Minecraft has certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it's changed games." Persson had actually stepped down from developing Minecraft "a relatively long time ago," but stuck around on smaller projects as people were telling him he was "important to the culture."

But he described an incident "a couple of weeks ago when the Internet exploded with hate against me" over a user license agreement issue that he had nothing to do with. Later on, he "started to realize I didn't have the connection to my fans that I thought I had. I've become a symbol. I don't want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don't understand ... I'm not an enterpenuer. I'm not a CEO. I'm a nerdy computer programer who likes to have opinions on Twitter."

Persson stated he would be leaving Mojang as soon as the deal was completed, going back to doing small experiments, "I love you. All of you. Thank you for turning Minecraft into what it has become, but there are too many of you, and I can't be responsible for something this big. In one sense, it belongs to Microsoft now. In a larger sense, it's belonged to all of you for a long time, and that will never change. It's not about the money. It's about my sanity."

Mojang's statement can be read in full (here), and Persson's can be read (here).

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Microsoft in Negotiations to Buy Minecraft

Where do Second Life residents go when not in Second Life? For some, it's the game of Minecraft. Among the most popular games in computer history, it's developed a fanbase of millions spending not only time there building things, but also willing to spend money on real life items such as "Creeper" hats and toys based on the game. But fans aren't the only thing the game has been attracting. Recently the Microsoft corporation has been negotiating a possible buyout of Minecraft's owner Majong, news that has some fans wondering what this could mean for their beloved game.

Read more in Other Grids and MMOs.

BREAKING NEWS: Disney Buys Second Life

* Update - April Fools *

Late Sunday, March 31st, Linden Lab made a stunning announcement. In a press release, they stated that they had sold controlling ownership of Second Life to the Walt Disney Company. It is believed the negotiations were conducted behind the scenes over several months.


"Linden Lab is pleased to have Second Life in the hands of such a prestigious company," Rod Humble stated, "We were happy to run the virtual world we created a decade ago. But as a maker of shared creative spaces, we need to be able to focus on new products. With Second Life being run by Disney, we can devote more time and effort to applications and platforms for today's market."

Disney has been active with online virtual worlds before. It's Internet division, the Disney Interactive Media Group has produced the "Virtual Magic Kingdom" and "The World of Cars Online." Both efforts were considered less than successful and were closed down.

There has been no official statement from Disney, although former president of Disney Online Jake Winebaum, who was involved in the negotiations, wrote on his blog that Disney plans "sweeping changes" to the virtual world, "The company is determined that Second Life and its residents are properly Disneyfied." All sims will be given General/PG status, and all adult content is to be removed from both the land and personal accounts. All human avatars are required to have underwear permanently fixed to them. While nonhuman avatars can still be nude, they must be completely covered in fur, feathers, scales, etc. with no "bits" showing. Adult animations will also banned.

Winebaum stated that there were some concerns about copyright violations. So Disney planned to suspend content creation "temporarily" until a new system could be developed that would ensure "no resident could expose Disney to a lawsuit." Of music and other media broadcasted inworld, "Only those owned by Disney and it's associated companies will be permitted." DJs and theater owners will need a license to continue to play.


For more on this stunning development, Click Here.

Linden Lab Buys "Blocksworld" IPad Game

Last week on January 24, Linden Lab announced they had purchased the iPad game "Blocksworld." Described on it's own website as a "mix of Lego and Minecraft," the Linden press release described it as an iPad game in which players use cubes, wedges, rockets, wheels, motors, and more to easily create 3D models of anything they can imagine - from race cars to animals to robots and more. These models come alive with realistic physics simulation, and users can play, interact, or even explode their creations. As with Linden Lab's Creatorverse, Blocksworld allows users to share their creations with others to explore, play with, and remix to make their own.

CEO Rod Humble was quoted in the statement, "Blocksworld is a great fit with what we do at Linden Lab. It's a very user-friendly complement to our portfolio of shared creative spaces, We're happy to have the Blocksworld team join Linden Lab and are looking forward to bringing Blocksworld to the App Store worldwide soon!"
Boldai, the team behind the game, is based in Sweden. On the website, they stated Blocksworld was developed at the University of Linkoping.

It's notable that in their press release, Linden Lab called itself not just "the makers of Second Life," but "the makers of Second Life, Creatorverse, Patterns, and other shared creative spaces." Some established residents of the Grid, already feeling the Lindens are leaving them behind, might consider this statement further evidence that they are.



Hamlet Au in New World Notes suggested that the purchase was motivated by predictions of tablets outselling desktop computers within two years. Ciaran Laval on her blog felt Rod Humble was continuing to move Linden Lab forward, expanding it and making it known for more than just Second Life.

For the complete Linden Lab statement: Click Here. 



Hat tip: Xymbers Slade, images from blocksworld.com

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Behind The Rumor About Microsoft Going After Linden Labs

Some of you may have heard something about a rumor flying about Second Life, that Microsoft was making a deal with Linden Labs to acquire them, if the deal hadn’t already been done and they were just waiting to announce it. My reporters and I heard about it to, but the decision was made to not say anything until rumor became fact.

As it turned out, Microsoft was making a deal for a virtual world, but it wasn’t Second Life. It was Vivivaty, a competing world which went out of business in April, which was bought up by the computer software giant. Supposedly, Microsoft may not stop there. And there are people guessing they want a virtual world for it’s X-Box game to compete with Sony’s own virtual world for it’s Playstation game: Home. But these are just guesses.

I spoke to my friend Aeonix Aeon of Pixel Labs a little about this. He told me he hadn’t thought too much about the rumor in itself. On the other hand, he thought that the rumor had a strong ring of truth to it. The way Linden Labs was acting, he felt they were looking for someone to buy them out.

Aeonix had also put his thoughts down in an article online on the Andromeda blog. He had been thinking since April 2010 that Linden Labs had it’s eye on an initial public offering or a buyout. He observed Linden Labs was exhibiting the “telltale signs” of it.

Linden Labs, he stated, was “reaching the end of an investor lifecycle ... Essentially, Linden Lab is at the end of that lifecycle of investment and for those of us who are knowledgeable on this, we also know what sorts of things to expect in the actions of a company in this position.” Aeonix wrote this observation was partly from being in this kind of position in the past.

For a company such as Linden Lab, one can expect that at the end of the lifecycle they would begin acting in (what would be seen by an outsider) very nonsensical manners, with massive layoffs, external office closings, and liquidation of assets in an attempt to bring the company into a leaner and more profitable state. This behavior is also a telltale sign that reorganization in the company is to position that company for the exit strategy of IPO or Buyout from a bigger corporation.

Back to the conversation, Aeonix thought, “ I believe that Philip (Linden) is weighing both sides for the benefit of both himself and investors, as well as the existing community. Which means, there will likely be concessions on both sides. ... Second Life will evolve, and on an increasingly rapid pace. We'll look back and see SL 1.0 and think ‘Wow.. it’s so different than what we have today.’ There may be new rules in place, depending on how things evolve out. ... Of course, long time users will scream bloody murder. We already saw that with V2. ... evolution.”

Aeonix concluded his article, “keep in mind that regardless of the outcome of this rumor, Linden Lab knows that it’s time to pay the devil its due. Whether or not we find that the devil we thought was behind it is truly the devil or just a lower demon compared to the bigger devil of Microsoft, has yet to be confirmed. Let us hope that they aren’t looking to sell all of our souls in the process.”

For Aeonix Aeon’s article: Click Here.

Sources, Andromeda, Virtual Worlds News

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