TMCnet News
Clouds of uncertainty remain over shares(City A.M. (UK) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Modern tech firms often have opaque business models that lead to headscratching - just look at the multi-billion dollar buyout offers from Facebook and Google for Snapchat, a firm with no revenue, let alone profit. But just because a business model isn't blindingly obvious, it doesn't mean it's without merit. Enter Blinkx, the "internet media platform that connects audiences with brands through professionally generated content". Ignoring the buzzwords, this is an online video advertising business - not unlike YouTube - and online advertising businesses are certainly nothing new. Some questions do remain. For a site listed as the 221st most visited website in the UK - just above First Direct and just below Vodafone - I have yet to find someone who has heard of Blinkx or who has knowingly visited its website. Likewise the Blinkx acquisition of Zango assets in 2009, a business whose software was categorised as adware by security professionals, which Blinkx says consisted merely of technical assets like servers - but which Zango's chief technology officer said was a 100 per cent acquisition of the company. After searching through Blinkx's investment statements since 2009 it would appear that the word Zango has never appeared in them. Until it tackles the points raised in Professor Edelman's blog post, clouds of uncertainty will surround Blinkx and its share price. (c) 2014 City A.M. |