acqusition

Salesforce.com closes deal for Buddy Media

Salesforce.com has completed its $689 million acquisition of social media marketing platform Buddy Media, the company said today.

The acquisition, which was announced in June, was rooted in the social synergy between the two companies. The companies have said that the addition of Buddy Media's service will vastly improve Radian 6, a "social media listening platform."

"Salesforce.com now has the No. 1 players in social listening and marketing -- Radian6 and Buddy Media," Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff said in a statement. "With the rapid growth in technology spending by [chief marketing … Read more

Paramount acquires game maker ScreenLife

Paramount Pictures announced on Tuesday that it acquired ScreenLife, the maker of the popular DVD game Scene It, in a move designed to boost the studio's profile in DVD, online, and mobile gaming.

Viacom-owned Paramount declined to disclose the purchase price for Seattle-based ScreenLife. Since launching in 2002, ScreenLife has sold more than 15 million copies of Scene It, a trivia-game that requires players to identify film clips. The company has over 25 DVD game titles on the market.

"The acquisition of ScreenLife advances Paramount Digital Entertainment's multi-platform strategy," said Thomas Lesinski, president of Paramount Digital … Read more

EMC scoops up Iomega

Updated at 2:30 p.m. PDT with comments from Iomega Chief Executive Jonathan Huberman.

And now for something completely different.

Software and storage company EMC announced Tuesday that it will purchase Iomega for $213 million, or $3.85 per share. EMC expects the deal to close sometime during the second quarter of this year.

EMC has traditionally played in enterprise-level storage and software arenas. Iomega is best-known for hard drives and storage for consumers and small-business customers. EMC hinted that this is just its first move into consumer hardware business.

"Iomega will play a key role in EMC'… Read more