We first reported last week that Spotify may be looking to raise someventure money. Now Times Online has picked up the scent, saying the music streamer “is trying to drum up a valuation of close to £200m as it seeks new investment of between £20 million and £30 million”; there’s…

Italy’s diverse social network, mobile and community operator Dada has resumed its journey on the M&A trail, buying 51 percent of Milan Stock Exchange-listed casual web games publisher Fueps for €1.36 million.

Game Group’s UK and Ireland sales fell back by 12.4 percent in the first half of this year, the company says in a trading statement - but the drop was expected after “exceptional” sales of Wii Fit, Mario Kart and Grand Theft Auto IV bumped sales up 25 percent last…

Swedish stock exchange officials are investigating whether there may have been insider trading around Global Factory X’s deal to buy Pirate Bay for $7.8 million. “There are reasons to suspect that information was leaked,” a stock market official at the AktieTorget exchange tells Swedish business paper Dagens Industri (via Swedish…

It’s a thumbs up from the European Commission: the proposed merger of Tiscali’s UK broadband business and Carphone Warehouse can now take place as planned.

US publisher Asset International has agreed to buy London-based financial online and magazine publisher The Trade, the first in what it says will be a string of media M&A deals for the privately owned company. The Trade publishes thetradenews.com and quarterly magazine The Trade, both of which cover the institutional…

In a time when it’s hard to get your hands on a decent mortgage, it’s no wonder many companies are struggling to raise the millions they need from venture capitalists to really grow.  Finnish entrepreneurs Jouko Ahvenainen and Valto Loikkanen think they’ve found part of the solution with their Grow…

HMV (LSE: HMV) profit rose 18.5 percent to £44.2 million in the year to April 2009, after 4.4 percent better sales of £1.95 billion. Online, HMV.com sales were up 16 percent and Waterstones.com up 60 percent. Waterstones.com has an exclusive deal to deliver ebooks to Sony (NYSE: SNE) Reader -…

Although Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) hasn’t made its plans to sell interactive ad shop Razorfish official, sources say the company has been stepping up preparations for the sale of the aQuantive unit recently. And that’s in spite of concerns that Microsoft wouldn’t be able to get the price it wanted. Microsoft…

—Glubble: Family-focused social network Glubble has raised $1 million (£607,000) in second round from (unidentified) European investors taking its total capital raised to date to $4 million (£2.42 million). The San Francisco-based site—founded in Amsterdam—provides with shared picture galleries and calendars and emphasises its safety benefits for young children. More…

Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) is mulling over a bid for T-Mobile UK, a move that would catapult them to the lead of the British mobile phone market, one of the most competitive markets in Europe. The FT.com, citing “people familiar with the situation” said that Vodafone, the world’s largest carrier by…

Lloyd’s List publisher Informa made “considerably lower” revenues in the first half of 2009 than it did in H108 but is on course to make savings of £20 million this year alone. In a market update ahead of its its half-year results on July 28, the company says that trading…

Just a few months after rival *Activision* brought in *Yahoo* vet Dan Rosensweig to head up its Guitar Hero division, comes news that MTV Games has added two new senior execs to its roster to prep for the launch of The Beatles: Rock Band. THQ’s former EVP of publishing Scott…

Despite months of denials from both companies, it looks like Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) is ready to part with interactive-ad shop Razorfish, the FT reports. The software company got Razorfish when it bought its parent aQuantive for $6 billion in August 2007. Microsoft has brought in Morgan Stanley to manage the…

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) is selling a chunk of online surveys operator Greenfield Online to Paris-based online research panel provider Toluna for $40 million. Zelnick Media had planned to buy last September, but the deal collapsed. Microsoft acquired the group for $486 million last year, but mainly wanted its European shopping…

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is tripling its stake in UK microchip firm Imagination Technologies, taking its share to 9.5 percent. Its buying 2.2 million new shares at £1.4275 each (total £3.14 million).

—Mail.ru earnings The Russian economy has slowed, but ru.net’s revenue growth hasn’t: Mail.ru, the country’s leading email provider and the world’s top Russian language site with 40 million monthly users, had revenues of $74.6 million (£45.3 million)—a 45 percent year-on-year increase—and income of $34.3 million (£20.8 million), a 29 percent…

British media conglomerate Pearson (NYSE: PSO) Plc. today said it has invested $30 million in India’s education sector. It has formed a 50:50 joint venture with Educomp Solutions Ltd, a leading education services provider, to support vocational learning in India. Pearson will pick up a 50% stake in Educomp’s existing…

UK digital investment house Ariadne Capital has funded two UK-based virtual-world companies, NearGlobal and RealLife, with undisclosed amounts. The company, which backed Spinvox early in its life, is now supporting NearGlobal which makes 3D representations of world cities, which are used as “portals” for shopping, education and social networking—Near London…