Technology Report: Zynga expected to file IPO paperwork on Thursday: source

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	06/29/2011
Good afternoon Bit News Corp's hunt to find a buyer for once-mighty social networking site Myspace has finally ended. Specific Media, an online advertising firm, has agreed to buy the beleaguered social media site for about $35 million, a source familiar with the deal told Reuters. News Corp will retain a minority 5 percent stake in the website it purchased six years ago for $580 million. More than half of the site's 500 employees are expected to be laid off as part of the deal. Tech watchers will have to wait at least another sleep to find out more about Zynga's plans for an initial public offering. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that the online social gaming firm behind popular Facebook game FarmVille is expected to file for an initial public offering with U.S. regulators on Thursday morning. Earlier reports suggested the company could raise up to $2 billion in the offering and value the firm as high as $20 billion. AllThingsD's Kara Swisher sizes up how Zynga's expected IPO fits in with other recent filings from similar companies such as Groupon. Twitter's Biz Stone and Evan Williams are leaving the site they co-founded and helped popularize – sort of. Both men will continue to advise Twitter on strategic matters but will spend the bulk of their days working at the newly-revived Obvious, the tech incubator company they started years ago that led to the creation of Twitter. Stone summed up their new plans in a blog posting on his website: "Our plan is to develop new projects and work on solving big problems aligned along a simple mission statement: The Obvious Corporation develops systems that help people work together to improve the world." More signs of growth for the much-buzzed about Sqaure, the mobile payment company run by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. The firm just scored a fresh round of financing worth $100 million led by venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The latest cash injection brings the company's valuation to $1.6 billion, according to a report on NYT's DealBook. Square's technology lets people use their mobile phones to accept credit card payments from other people. Sony is still playing damage control months after hackers launched a massive attack against the electronics company. It's latest move? Reshuffling management in its videogames unit. Kazuo Hirai, Sony Corp's second-in-command, will relinquish day-to-day control of the company's videogames unit in September, making way for a Welsh-born Sony veteran to take over. Apple's iPhone turns 4 years old today. Mashable has created a fun infographic with a timeline and other notable facts about the smartphone that ushered in massive changes to the mobile industry. CNN tech writer John D. Sutter asks whether the iPhone has changed all that much in four years. His conclusion: not really. In iPhone rumor news, a report on popular tech blog Boy Genius Report quotes an RBC analyst as saying Apple will offer the iPhone 3GS for free on contract after its iPhone 5 launches later this year in an effort to take on Android more directly and reach out to mid-market smartphone buyers. LATEST NEWS Zynga expected to file IPO paperwork on Thursday: source June 29, 2011 04:20 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Online social game company Zynga is expected to file paperwork for an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday morning, a source familiar with the situation said. | Full Article LivingSocial moving ahead with $1 billion IPO: report June 29, 2011 04:20 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - LivingSocial met with banks this week to discuss an IPO of about $1 billion, CNBC reported on Wednesday. | Full Article Twitter founders return to roots, relaunch Obvious June 29, 2011 10:24 AM ET ASPEN, Co. (Reuters) - Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams plan to revive Obvious, the company they conceived years ago as a technology project incubator that eventually spawned Twitter. | Full Article Twitter co-founder Dorsey's company gets $100 million June 29, 2011 10:19 AM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Square, the mobile payment service started by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, secured $100 million in a financing round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. | Full Article Wall Street ends biggest 3-day surge in three months June 29, 2011 04:36 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street closed its best three-day run in the past three months on Wednesday after the Greek parliament approved austerity measures to avoid defaulting on its debt. | Full Article BUSINESS NEWS LSE, TMX abort merger plans, leaving both in play June 29, 2011 03:40 PM ET TORONTO/LONDON (Reuters) - The London and Toronto stock exchanges abandoned plans for a C$3.6 billion ($3.7 billion) tie-up on Wednesday, leaving both in play in a world already facing a wave of exchange consolidation. | Full Article Pending home sales rise but recovery still distant June 29, 2011 02:45 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pending sales of existing homes rebounded from a seven-month low in May but demand for mortgages sank last week and the market is still struggling under the weight of a glut of unsold properties. | Full Article Bank of America expects loss after settlement June 29, 2011 03:42 PM ET CHARLOTTE, N.C./NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp said it expects to take more than $20 billion of charges after settling with mortgage bond investors, resulting in a second-quarter loss. | Full Article U.S. must hike debt limit soon to avoid "shock": IMF June 29, 2011 01:11 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday pressed U.S. lawmakers to quickly lift the government's borrowing limit to avoid a "severe shock" to global markets and a still-fragile economic recovery. | Full Article Exclusive: S&P to deeply cut U.S. ratings if debt payment missed June 29, 2011 02:32 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States would immediately have its top-notch credit rating slashed to "selective default" if it misses a debt payment on August 4, Standard & Poor's managing director John Chambers told Reuters. | Full Article U.S. TOP NEWS Amid debt talks, Obama calls for stimulus New settlement push in CFTC oil manipulation case FDA panel rejects Avastin for breast cancer use BofA settles on mortgage repurchase claims Video catches Russian president in driving gaffe RELATED VIDEO Microsoft's new Office in the cloud Global data doubles every 2 years: study British teenaged hacker out on bail A daily digest of breaking business news, coverage of the US economy, major corporate news and the financial markets. 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