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By Nitasha Tiku 8/01/12 3:50pm

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(Photo: Technmarketing.com)

Flipboard CEO Mike McCue Exits Twitter’s Board Just as Twitter Begins to Lockout Third-Party Developers

The impact of Twitter’s API crackdown, it seems, has reverberated up to its board. Mike McCue, CEO of the Flipboard, the beloved news reader app, just disclosed that he’s leaving the company’s board, tweeting: “To the @Twitter team: it was amazing to be part of the board. You’re truly changing the world. Thanks @ev @jack @dick for the opportunity.” Of course, a former board member should know that CEO Dick Costolo’s Twitter handle is @dickc not @dick.

Some unresolved hostility would be understandable. After all, changes to Twitter’s API, documented in great detail this morning by AllThingsD‘s Mike Isaac, will likely mean that Flipboard will no longer be able to integrate with Twitter. In a separate post, Kara Swisher reports that Mr. McCue initiated the discussion about leaving the board.  Read More

By Adrianne Jeffries 6/13/12 8:56am

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The SinglePlatform sales floor. (Photo: Twitter.com/wileycerilli)

SinglePlatform Scores a Valley-Sized Exit for New York With Sale to Constant Contact

It’s not often that numbers are this forthcoming after an acquisition. But New York-based SinglePlatform, a one-stop-shop where local businesses can manage their presence on sites across the web from Foursquare to the New York Times, should be happy that the terms of its recent acquisition are being disclosed. This morning it was announced that the company, founded in 2010, has sold to email marketing provider Constant Contact for $65 million in cash “subject to certain adjustments.” The company will also get $5 million for employee retention and between another $10 million and $30 million if it meets revenue targets.

Constant Contact is a public company that launched in 1998. Constant Contact expects SinglePlatform, which manages 600,000 listings, to bring in $1 million of revenue in 2012 and $10 million in 2013.  Read More

By Jessica Roy 4/18/12 4:24pm

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iPad Culture Mag Punch Names Jim Windolf as Editor in Chief

It’s billed as an iPad magazine, but Punch–which we first reported on last week–is less a magazine than it is a clever collection of culturally relevant apps and games. Revolving around pop culture topics that range from the highbrow (“Hedge Fund or Organic Farm?”) to the low (“Closet Case,” where you can dress up a paper doll version of Rick Santorum), Punch is a re-imagining of the iPad format, delivered to us by a cabal of Manhattan media folks, including Daily Candy founder Dany Levy and former Radar editor Maer Roshan.

Now, Punch has announced that it has tapped Jim Windolf to serve as the mag’s first Editor in Chief. Mr. Windolf has a long-established media career–he’ll be leaving his position as a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, where he’s served for over a decade, to join the Punch team. (Spoiler: he also worked at the Observer for nine years before joining Vanity Fair.) Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 4/02/12 12:55pm

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Mr. Porter with Ghostface Killah (via Twitter)

OMGPOP CEO Dan Porter Gets Bitter on Twitter Over Disparaging Ex-Employee

The saga of the lone OMGPOP employee to say no to Zynga isn’t over just yet thanks to a couple of acerbic late night tweets from OMGPOP chief executive Dan Porter. Last week, Shay Pierce, a former OMGPOP game developer penned a rather explosive column for Gamasutra about turning down Zynga’s post-acquisition employment offer over a difference of “values.” (The gist: he had them, Zynga didn’t.)

Guess Mr. Porter, now VP of general management at Zynga New York, was not a fan of Mr. Pierce calling his new employer “evil.” Late Friday night, Mr. Porter tweeted: “The one OMGPOP employee who turned down joining Zynga was the weakest one on the whole team. Selfish people make bad games. Good riddance!” In case you weren’t sure who he was talking about, he later added, “What’s so interesting about success is the number of failures who try to ride on your back. Shay Pierce is just one of many . . .” Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 3/26/12 8:30am

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Mr. Forman (via twitter/charlesforman)

OMGPOP Founder Charles Forman Made ‘Way More’ Than $22 M. in Sale to Zynga

The New York Times got a ticket to OMGPOP’s after-acquisition party at the Bowery Hotel last week where they ran into the startup’s founder, Charles Forman, who was in such a daze over the $180 million deal with Zynga that he walked into traffic.

Mr. Forman, who left the company in 2011, but retained his stake, told the Times he made “way more” than $22 million from the sale, adding, “It’s the kind of money where I’ll be wearing whatever I want when somebody invites me to a wedding.”

We never really thought to measure “fuck you” money in terms of prescribed wedding attire, but godspeed to any groom that wants Mr. Forman as his best man. Read More

By Adrianne Jeffries 3/21/12 3:13pm

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CEO Dan Porter with Ghostface Killah. (Twitter)

OMGPOP CEO Dan Porter Is Now VP of General Management of Zynga New York

As expected and reported in many places, today Zynga announced the purchase of New York’s own social game maker OMGPOP.

OMGPOP was founded six years ago, went through a session at Y Combinator, and wound its way through a series of challenges and leadership changes before coming out with the superhit game Draw Something six weeks ago. Draw Something is like Pictionary, except it’s played on a mobile phone and is apparently as addictive as crack. With 35 million downloads, it is by far the largest game OMGPOP has ever made.

“We’re excited to announce Zynga has acquired New York-based OMGPOP,” Dave Ko, Zynga’s chief mobile officer, said on a media call, before praising the “smash hit Draw Something.” “If you haven’t played it already, I highly suggest you check it out. It’s super fun.” Read More

By Jessica Roy 3/19/12 1:29pm

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Vimeo Saves New CEO Kerry Trainor From AOL’s Sinking Ship

Video sharing service Vimeo, also known as the rich man’s YouTube, announced an executive-level shakeup this morning via a press release from parent company InterActiveCorp. Kerry Trainor, the senior vice president of AOL Huffington Post Media Group, is joining Vimeo as CEO. He’ll be taking over for Dae Mellencamp, who has been CEO and president of Vimeo since 2009. Ms. Mellencamp will keep her title as president, but hand over the CEO reins to Mr. Trainor. Read More

By Jessica Roy 3/14/12 2:05pm

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Digg Founder Kevin Rose Shutters Oink Four Months After Launch

Milk Inc., Digg founder Kevin Rose’s new app shop, announced today that it was shutting down its first app project, Oink. The iPhone app was meant as a servicey rating tool, where users could highlight and rate specific aspects of a restaurant or bar, like meals or drinks. It saw fast growth upon release in November 2011, but apparently very little after the initial excitement died down. Read More