AllThingsD, as in Done, with Dow Jones & Co. Affiliation

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AllThingsD (All Things Digital), the six-year-old technology news Web site that was a partnership of Dow Jones & Co. and columnists Walter Mossberg and Kara Swisher, is coming to an end, the Wall St. Journal reported this week.

The site, which reviewed new products and reported on the high tech industry, earned high marks under Journal alumna Swisher and Mossberg, who launched a Personal Technology column in 1991. He will depart the Journal at the end of this year, according to the Journal article.

Mossberg & Swisher are looking for another company with which to partner, the Journal reported.

Yahoo! Takes a Tumblr

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As part of CEO Marissa Mayer's strategy to bolster her Internet company's appeal to the 18- to 24-year-old demographic group, Yahoo! today is expected to announce the $1.1 billion cash purchase of New York-based social blogger Tumblr, according to a report by All Things Digital (www.allthingsd.com), which initially broke the story last week.

Tumblr CEO David Karp reportedly scored a cash windfall from the acquisition and will commit to staying at Yahoo! for four years and remain a force overseeing Tumblr. The original desktop-based platform that has expanded to mobile boasts 107.8 million blogs on its Web site. According to com.score, Tumblr attracted 117 million visitors last month.

The Allthingsd story said Yahoo! will bolster the advertising structure of Tumblr, which claims it garnered $13 million in ad revenue last year. Tumblr reportedly is valued at $800 million. There were no other competitive bidders for Tumblr.

Time Warning: Q1 Results Show It's Expensive to Pink-Slip Workforce

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An 11 percent drop in subscription revenue and an overall 5 percent decline in Q1 earnings to $737 million compared to First Quarter 2012 figures was a one-two punch of bad news for media giant Time Warner, All Things Digital (allthingsd.com) reported this week.

Time, Inc. sustained a $9 million loss for the quarter, owing to the $53 million expended to slash its 8,000-member workforce by 6 percent (see "TUOL" post 3/7/13). Time Warner, which owns nearly a quarter of the nation's magazines, plans to jettison its Time, Inc. magazine division into a separate company and shift its emphasis to its cable tv and film divisions.

Murdoch's Daily Tough Tablet to Swallow--50 Staffers Pink-Slipped

(Photo credit: robjewitt)Rupert Murdoch's The Daily, News Corp.'s $30 million national digital news outlet designed for tablets and touchscreen devices that made its splashy debut on Groundhog Day a year ago (see "TUOL" post 1/28/11), has laid off 29 percent of its full-time staff, with 50 employees cut loose, All Things Digital.com reports.

Other changes at The Daily include scrapping the opinion section and relying on content partners, such as FoxSports, to fill its sports section, according to the All Things Digital article. Additionally, the i-Pad only journal will switch to a portrait-only view.

Warner Bros. Giving Rotten Tomatoes a Squeeze

Image via WikipediaWarner Bros. has emerged as the favorite to acquire Rotten Tomatoes' parent Flixster entertainment site, according to the Website All Things Digital (ATD).

Though neither party has confirmed the possible sale, All Things Digital says the asking price for the San Francisco-based Flixster is likely in the $60 million to $90 million range.  The five-year-old Flixster was founded by Joe Greenstein and Saran Chari, and  offers among its brands, social movie review site Rotten Tomatoes.

Warner Bros., which includes the Harry Potter, Batman and Rush Hour movies in its stable, has turned to social media in a big way, ATD reports, by engaging in a movie rental venture with Facebook.

AOL: You've Got Layoffs!

Image by Frank Gruber via FlickrAOL, fresh off its acquisition of The Huffington Post [see "TUOL" post 2/7/11], has slashed 900 jobs, according to the Paidcontent.org and All Things Digital Web sites.

The breakdown involves pink slips being issued to 200 U.S. employees and 400 workers in India, and outsourcing another 300 jobs in India. Among those departing are Jonathan Dube, senior veep of news. Editorial and other media product groups are taking a hit, but advertising staffers were spared in this round, so that they can devote themselves to drumming up ads for The Huffington Post, no doubt.

Since Tim Armstronng became CEO of America Online, 90 percent of the Internet Service Provider's leadership team has turned over.  Now we understand what the AOL "running man" logo is running from.

MySpace for Rent?

Image via CrunchBaseThe Web site All Things Digital ("ATD") claims News Corp.-owned MySpace may lay off at least 50 percent of its 1000-member staff tomorrow.

ATD, which also is part of Murdoch's News Corp. holdings, said the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based MySpace is being shopped to private equity firms. Rumors also abound that Yahoo may line up as a buyer.  The travails of MySpace have been well-chronicled by this blog (see "TUOL" posts 10/13/10, 8/6/10 & 6/24/09).