The Times is dipping a toe into the waters of âaffiliate links.â It hopes to make money off products it writes about. It needs to tread carefully.
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A judge has dismissed a request from France-based ad tech company Criteo to have a preliminary injunction served against a rival firm it claimed was operating a "counterfeit click fraud" scheme that led to "substantial injury and damage" to its business and reputation. Criteo filed its lawsuit against US-based firm SteelHouse in June. The suit claimed Criteo had lost business because SteelHouse used a method to falsely take credit for the visits to retailers' web pages. Many retailers measure the performance of their ad tech vendors by using a method called "last click attribution," which gives credit to whichever computer served the last ad a user clicked on before landing on their websites. What followed was an ugly back-and-forth, with SteelHouse filing counterclaims in July alleging Criteo "regularly injects adware" into users' personal computers and buys inventory from "non-reputable sources" in order to drive up its click numbers. Criteo followed up in August by denying the counterclaims and persuading five former SteelHouse clients to sign declarations supporting its allegations. In September, SteelHouse hit back with further counterclaims, this time alleging an analysis of Criteo's web logs showed behavior "indicative of adware, bots, click farms, or other code" intended to artificially inflate its click-count numbers. But on Wednesday, a California judge denied Criteo's request for an injunction to be served against SteelHouse to prevent it running its alleged "counterfeit click fraud scheme," ruling that the matter could be settled outside court without a hearing. The court found Criteo's lawsuit raised "serious questions" about the way SteelHouse was operating. However, it ruled Criteo had not proved that "irreparable and immediate harm" would be likely if an injunction was not served. The judge stated (you can view the court document in full below): "The court does not believe the loss of customers for Criteo constitutes the type of irreparable harm, incapable of measurement, needed to justify the extraordinary relief of a preliminary injunction." A SteelHouse spokesperson told Business Insider: "SteelHouse is pleased with the court ruling in our favor. It validates the importance of transparency in advertising." A Criteo spokesperson sent Business Insider this statement: "On Thursday 27th October, the Court decided against granting the preliminary injunction Criteo requested in its lawsuit against SteelHouse. Criteo filed this lawsuit to ensure transparency and accuracy around the metrics used to attribute sales to online marketers. While the Court's decision held that Criteo's exhibits and declarations, including those of SteelHouse's former clients, raised 'serious questions' regarding SteelHouse's conduct, the court simply decided that the harm caused by SteelHouse could be satisfied by monetary damages, making preliminary injunctive relief unnecessary." The Criteo vs. SteelHouse case is not yet over, however. Criteo's motion to dismiss SteelHouse's counterclaims is still outstanding. The full In Chambers Minute Order Denying Motion for Preliminary Injunction: SEE ALSO: The Criteo versus SteelHouse 'click fraud' lawsuit just got even nastier DON'T MISS: The market caps of all the public ad tech companies combined isn't even half the size of Criteo's Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Watch the brutal Hillary Clinton ad that pits Trump against himself News publications continue to be pummeled by rapidly declining print advertising revenue, and newsrooms everywhere are scrambling.
At the Munich conference, which took place in May 2016, the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA) announced the publication of the final version of the CORE Reference (Clarity and Openness in Reporting: E3-based) recommendations, which were developed together with the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA).
Google's CFO defended Alphabet's setbacks but struggled to justify its purpose (GOOG, GOOGL)10/27/2016 Google's transformation into the Alphabet holding company has had a rocky first year. So Ruth Porat, the former Morgan Stanley banker who is now Alphabet's CFO, rolled up her sleeves to defend the move to antsy analysts and investors on Thursday. Porat kicked off Alphabet's Q3 earnings call with a lengthy defense of the corporate restructuring that took place a year ago and which was intended to turn Google into a collection of independent, game-changing companies. "We believe our structure provides the transparency and oversight to make smart choices," Porat said on the call. She didn't directly mention the string of executive departures, the layoffs, or the billions of dollars in losses that have plagued Alphabet's diverse Other Bet companies, which are focused on everything from self-driving cars to high-speed internet service. On Tuesday Google Fiber, one of the most costly Other Bet ventures, announced that it was halting expansion plans and cutting 9% of its staff. Porat tried to make the case that such setbacks are all part of the bigger plan: "As we reach for moonshots that will have a big impact in the longer-term, it's inevitable that there will be course corrections along the way and that some efforts will be more successful than others," Porat said. "Over the past year, for example, you've seen us make progress and accelerate our efforts in some areas, while re-positioning or taking a pause in others." The Other Bets businesses posted a combined operating loss of $865 million in the third quarter. Revenue was up 40% year-on-year, but at a total of $197 million, it's not surprising that some are questioning whether the return on investment is worth it. A tough argument to makePorat is viewed by the Street as the financial disciplinarian, the CFO who is making sure that the various Alphabet companies don't spiral out of control with runaway spending.Â
Unlike Alphabet CEO Larry Page, who can lean on his reputation as a tech visionary to make the case for big bets, Porat's arguments stand up only when underpinned with solid economic logic. And that's tough thing to do when you're an online ad company building solar-powered balloons, self-driving cars and robots. "Because most of our Other Bets are pre-revenue, the Other Bets revenue line provides only partial insight regarding our progress," Porat said. Instead, she suggested investors "supplement" their view of the moonshot projects with "insight regarding product progress." But the product progress she cited was hardly the type of stuff to instill confidence. Nest's newest product, an outdoor version of a video camera it acquired two years ago, looks less like innovation than stagnation. And while Porat bragged about the Google self-driving car project's recent milestone of 2 million miles driven, the company still hasn't brought the cars to market, despite being one of the first companies to embark on the project more than 7 years ago. Meanwhile, Uber and Tesla are making strides in autonomous driving. If Alphabet wants to keep investors on board with its moonshot quest, maybe it's time Larry Page gets back on the earnings calls. SEE ALSO: Google earnings top targets and the company will buy back $7 billion of stock Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's why the time is always 9:41 in Apple product photos News publications continue to be pummeled by rapidly declining print advertising revenue, and newsrooms everywhere are scrambling.
For starters, ponder your ad's placement, using that old real estate rule: location, location, location.
Tinder's not just a dating app anymore.
Tronc and Gannett plunged on a report that banks have backed out of funding their deal (TRNC, GCI)10/27/2016 Shares of Tronc and Gannett plunged in trading on Thursday after Bloomberg reported that banks financing Tronc's takeover by Gannett have backed out. Bloomberg's Alex Sherman and Gerry Smith reported that lenders withdrew funding on concern that both companies may be overvalued based on the deal price of about $18.75 per share. Gannett, which owns USA Today, agreed to buy Tronc, the publisher of  big city newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune and LA Times, to better compete in online news. Deal talks are still ongoing, and both companies are working to make it happen, according to the report. This was the plunge in Tronc shares. Trading was briefly halted for the volatility of the move lower: And in Gannett, which fluctuated shortly after the news but was still off 13%: Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: LIZ ANN SONDERS: The most unsettling outcome for the markets would be a surprise Trump win Bank of America, MasterCard and some financial start-ups have been trying out chatbots that can initiate transactions and give financial advice.
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