Former Intermix CEO BradGreenspan is suing Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., claiming the $580 million Murdoch paid for Intermix -- creator of MySpace -- is $19.5 billion short of its actual value. Though Greenspan’s suit was punted by an LA Superior Court judge, he’s vowed to appeal. He also claims News Corp. employees moved into a house across from one of his buddies so they could sniff his Wi-Fi network. (No, I’m not making that up.) He became suspicious when he was approached on MySpace by an 18-year-old hottie named “Rupie,” who turned out to be a 75-year-old media baron. (Yes, I’m making that up.)
During Greenspan’s tenure as CEO, Intermix was known for spewing adware -- later paying a $7.5 million fine for the deed -- and launching BigFatBaby.com. I wouldn’t put anything past Murdoch, but it’s hard to find somebody to root for in this case.
Limiting your options: The options-backdating scandal has claimed scalps of honchos at CNet and McAfee, and more high-level headcount reductions are expected. For many C-level Silicon Valley execs, the only options are a) resign, or b) resign bathed in scandal. I’d go with a), myself.
Batches-o-patches: Last Tuesday Microsoft issued 11 security updates containing 26 patches, setting a new all-time record for most fixes delivered in a single day -- woo-hoo! However, network glitches kept many users from downloading the patches. (Boo-hoo.) I understand Microsoft is thinking about hiring Dodgeball legend Patches O'Houlihan as its next product manager.
Yahoo serious? Google snatches YouTube from under Yahoo’s nose, and Yahoo responds by ... creating a digitized time capsule it plans to beam onto a Mexican pyramid and then into space. Right. Yahoo's Time Capsule site began collecting text, images, audio, and video last week. At press time, Yahoo reported it had already received 36,474 contributions, “11,120 from men and 12,512 from women,” which leaves 12,842 contributions under the category of “other.” Pyramid-shaped space aliens, perhaps?
Got hot tips or items worth beaming into space? Send them to cringe@infoworld.com and you may receive a flight-worthy bag.