WebMD Becomes More Social
March 10, 2010
WebMD has launched WebMD Health Exchange, a new health social networking platform.
WebMD Health exchange allows people to connect with health experts and other WebMD members to share experiences, discuss personal challenges, and receive answers and support.
"WebMD Health Exchange is a powerful new way to connect our 60 million monthly users to share their own experiences and personal wisdom across any area of health and wellness," said Wayne Gattinella, President and Chief Executive Officer, WebMD.
"We expect Health Exchange will quickly become a trusted source of information for our users and an important new communications platform for our sponsors."
WebMD Health Exchange is being integrated throughout WebMD.com, giving people the ability to connect with others on relevant topics. Along with expert led communities, members can create their own communities and exchange information with other users. Communities can be created for public access which are searchable on WebMD and online, or members can create their own private communities to share information with others.
Doctors from Duke Medicine will provide expertise for communities ranging from asthma to rheumatoid arthritis. Experts from the National Health Council, National Osteoporosis Foundation, American Gastroenterological Association, North American Menopause Society, and the American Veterinary Medical Association will lead related community discussions.
The WebMD Health Exchange will also allow third party sponsors to create branded exchanges and to host consumer discussions on specific health and wellness topics.
HP Launches Music Service In Europe
January 25, 2010
Hewlett-Packard said today it is launching a subscription-based music service in Europe in partnership with Omnifone.
The service called MusicStation will be pre-loaded on 16 HP models across 10 European countries. The service will provide access to songs from all four major music labels and independent labels.
MusicStation will be available on new HP PCs in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. Users will pay around $14 a month for access to MusicStation. They can trial the service for free for 14 days, and keep 10 songs each month.
"The HP rollout sees MusicStation Desktop preinstalled on multiple HP PCs, available in 7 languages with each territory featuring an individually tailored music catalogue from Omnifone's roster of over 6.5 million tracks," said Rob Lewis, Chief Executive Officer of Omnifone.
The new service is fully licensed by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music and Warner Music International.
"With its huge scale and user base, HP's 10 country introduction of Omnifone's MusicStation unlimited music service for the PC will help encourage legitimate access to digital music content from Universal Music and all the other major and independent labels," said Rob Wells, Senior Vice President, Digital, Universal Music Group International.
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HP Launches Music Service In Europe
January 25, 2010
Hewlett-Packard said today it is launching a subscription-based music service in Europe in partnership with Omnifone.
The service called MusicStation will be pre-loaded on 16 HP models across 10 European countries. The service will provide access to songs from all four major music labels and independent labels.
MusicStation will be available on new HP PCs in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. Users will pay around $14 a month for access to MusicStation. They can trial the service for free for 14 days, and keep 10 songs each month.
"The HP rollout sees MusicStation Desktop preinstalled on multiple HP PCs, available in 7 languages with each territory featuring an individually tailored music catalogue from Omnifone's roster of over 6.5 million tracks," said Rob Lewis, Chief Executive Officer of Omnifone.
The new service is fully licensed by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music and Warner Music International.
"With its huge scale and user base, HP's 10 country introduction of Omnifone's MusicStation unlimited music service for the PC will help encourage legitimate access to digital music content from Universal Music and all the other major and independent labels," said Rob Wells, Senior Vice President, Digital, Universal Music Group International.
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>iTunes 9 Improves Sharing and Syncing
>Sony To Offer eMusic Its Older Catalog
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Churchill Downs Buys Youbet.com For $126 Million
November 12, 2009
Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI), home of the Kentucky Derby, has agreed to buy online horse wagering firm Youbet.com in a cash-and- stock deal valued at $126.8 million.
The deal would give Churchill Downs over $700 million worth of the $1.4 billion online horse wagering market. Churchill Downs already owns online horse betting site TwinSpires.com.
The deal will give Youbet shareholders 97 cents a share in cash for each Youbet.com share, plus 0.0598 shares of Churchill Downs stock. Based on the closing price of Churchill stock on Tuesday, the transaction represents a per-share value of Youbet stock of about $2.84. Once the deal closes, Youbet shareholders will own 16 percent of Churchill stock.
Churchill says less than 14 percent of all wagering on U.S. Thoroughbred racing is estimated to be placed online, but it anticipates that percentage will continue to grow.
"We believe this combination should enable us to accelerate the development of new technology-enabled features and services that horse racing customers who wager via the Advanced Deposit Wagering channel want, and that can attract new customers to racing, said Robert L. Evans, Churchill President and Chief Executive Officer.
"While we expect to make many exciting improvements for customers, our existing TwinSpires.com customers will be able to continue to access their accounts and make wagers, deposits and withdrawals in the same manner they do today."
Churchill said the deal will result in annual saving of $10 million. The transaction is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of 2010.
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