OH, THANK HEAVEN� BIPARTISANSHIP IS DELICIOUS: OpenSecrets.org's own Megan Wilson reports that 7-Eleven, the maker of the frozen Slurpee beverage, is cashing in on President Barack Obama�s joke that Republicans have been �sipping on Slurpees� while Democrats have been hard at work. A "Slurpee Summit" was suggested to unite the two parties at the White House, and 7-Eleven took over.
Starting in its headquarters city of Dallas, the company began a tour that eventually led them to Washington D.C.�s Union Station on Thursday -- one of the closest Metro stops to the U.S. Capitol -- where the company gave out free Slurpees and T-shirts that stated, �Party animals unite.� It features an elephant silhouette lifting a Slurpee to a donkey silhouette.
� John Boehner and Obama rescheduled their Slurpee summit, but we didn�t,� said one 7-Eleven worker handing out the free shirts as he smiled.
�D.C. OR BUST� read a sign posted on the portable Slurpee dispenser outside the popular Metro stop.
7-Eleven is a modest financial player in politics, with its political action committee usually donating around $10,000 to $20,000 to federal candidates each election cycle. However the PAC has not donated money during the 2010 election cycle. 7-Eleven spent more than $1.25 million on lobbying from 1999 to 2006 when it ended its federal lobbying presence. 7-Eleven became a subsidiary to Seven & I Holdings Co. in 2005, and since 2007 it has spent $510,000 on lobbying. In 2010, Seven & I Holdings was the 35th highest lobbying spender within the retail industry, according to the Center's research.
In the 2008 election cycle, its corporate PAC gave $9,500 to federal-level candidates -- 10 Republicans and four Democrats. It also gave $500 to Texas Republican Rep. Michael Burgess�s PAC, the Lone Star Leadership PAC. In that same cycle, 7-Eleven�s corporate PAC received a $9,000 donation from Shell Oil.
According to the company, it sells enough Slurpees each year to fill 12 Olympic-size swimming pools.
CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS IN THE NEWS: The Center's annual release of congressional members' personal finance reports was released on Wednesday and since then has been picked up by most major news organization in the nation.
Highlights include the San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, Washington Post, Reuters, CBS News, CNBC, Fox News and National Public Radio. On Wednesday, the Center for Responsive Politics was on the comedy show, The Colbert Report, as host Steven Colbert used the Center's website to show Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) is "the guy who gets the most cash from the oil industry."
Have a news tip or link to pass along? We want to hear from you! E-mail us at press@crp.org.
News broke late yesterday that Lance Tokuda is stepping down from his role as chief executive of social game- and app-maker RockYou. Coming barely more than a month after the company announced substantial layoffs, we started wondering where RockYou is headed. So I got on the phone with chief operating officer Lisa Marino to find out.
Marino emphasized that both Tokuda’s decision (he will remain at RockYou working on “innovation and strategic initiatives”) and the layoffs were part of a larger reorganization at RockYou as it focuses on social games. The company was already making games, such as Zoo World, but Marino said it was doing too many other things — if you asked people in the industry what RockYou did, you’d get “a mixed bag of answers.”
So RockYou laid off part of its workforce (it never said how much), hired new employees with what Marino called “the right DNA to build the good games” (such as former EA executive Jonathan Knight), and in the last month alone, it shut down more than 50 applications. RockYou has become “a really different place,” Marino said.
And we’ll see the fruits of this new focus in the next few months, she added, as RockYou unveils new products that will make it “very relevant” in the social games industry.
When I asked how RockYou hopes to stand out against giants like Zynga, Marino said the company isn’t just a game-maker. Yes, it’s focused on making games, but it’s also “a social entertainment company”. There’s a media and advertising side to RockYou’s business, which it uses to make money from its own games (so it’s not just tied to virtual goods) and to help other developers do the same.
“This was an aggressive move and a proactive move,” Marino said. “We’ve got a lot of money in the bank.”
Revenue is still strong, she added, with RockYou set to make more money in the fourth quarter of 2010 than it did in Q3 or Q2 (but not as much as Q1).
RockYou has raised $127 million in funding, so if its investors (including Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners) want to see a healthy return, they’ll need a bigger exit than rival Slide’s $228 million acquisition by Google.
Tokuda’s departure from the CEO role fit into that restructuring, Marino said, and it also came from his realization that as the company grows, it will need a “been here, done that” CEO with more experience growing organizations. For now, Marino and the rest of the current executive team are managing RockYou while the company searches for a replacement.
“Because the management team is doing well, we have the luxury of being patient to find the right candidate,” she said.
[Photo of Lance Tokuda at the Facebook Developer Garage via Flickr/Niall Kennedy]
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OH, THANK HEAVEN� BIPARTISANSHIP IS DELICIOUS: OpenSecrets.org's own Megan Wilson reports that 7-Eleven, the maker of the frozen Slurpee beverage, is cashing in on President Barack Obama�s joke that Republicans have been �sipping on Slurpees� while Democrats have been hard at work. A "Slurpee Summit" was suggested to unite the two parties at the White House, and 7-Eleven took over.
Starting in its headquarters city of Dallas, the company began a tour that eventually led them to Washington D.C.�s Union Station on Thursday -- one of the closest Metro stops to the U.S. Capitol -- where the company gave out free Slurpees and T-shirts that stated, �Party animals unite.� It features an elephant silhouette lifting a Slurpee to a donkey silhouette.
� John Boehner and Obama rescheduled their Slurpee summit, but we didn�t,� said one 7-Eleven worker handing out the free shirts as he smiled.
�D.C. OR BUST� read a sign posted on the portable Slurpee dispenser outside the popular Metro stop.
7-Eleven is a modest financial player in politics, with its political action committee usually donating around $10,000 to $20,000 to federal candidates each election cycle. However the PAC has not donated money during the 2010 election cycle. 7-Eleven spent more than $1.25 million on lobbying from 1999 to 2006 when it ended its federal lobbying presence. 7-Eleven became a subsidiary to Seven & I Holdings Co. in 2005, and since 2007 it has spent $510,000 on lobbying. In 2010, Seven & I Holdings was the 35th highest lobbying spender within the retail industry, according to the Center's research.
In the 2008 election cycle, its corporate PAC gave $9,500 to federal-level candidates -- 10 Republicans and four Democrats. It also gave $500 to Texas Republican Rep. Michael Burgess�s PAC, the Lone Star Leadership PAC. In that same cycle, 7-Eleven�s corporate PAC received a $9,000 donation from Shell Oil.
According to the company, it sells enough Slurpees each year to fill 12 Olympic-size swimming pools.
CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS IN THE NEWS: The Center's annual release of congressional members' personal finance reports was released on Wednesday and since then has been picked up by most major news organization in the nation.
Highlights include the San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, Washington Post, Reuters, CBS News, CNBC, Fox News and National Public Radio. On Wednesday, the Center for Responsive Politics was on the comedy show, The Colbert Report, as host Steven Colbert used the Center's website to show Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) is "the guy who gets the most cash from the oil industry."
Have a news tip or link to pass along? We want to hear from you! E-mail us at press@crp.org.
News broke late yesterday that Lance Tokuda is stepping down from his role as chief executive of social game- and app-maker RockYou. Coming barely more than a month after the company announced substantial layoffs, we started wondering where RockYou is headed. So I got on the phone with chief operating officer Lisa Marino to find out.
Marino emphasized that both Tokuda’s decision (he will remain at RockYou working on “innovation and strategic initiatives”) and the layoffs were part of a larger reorganization at RockYou as it focuses on social games. The company was already making games, such as Zoo World, but Marino said it was doing too many other things — if you asked people in the industry what RockYou did, you’d get “a mixed bag of answers.”
So RockYou laid off part of its workforce (it never said how much), hired new employees with what Marino called “the right DNA to build the good games” (such as former EA executive Jonathan Knight), and in the last month alone, it shut down more than 50 applications. RockYou has become “a really different place,” Marino said.
And we’ll see the fruits of this new focus in the next few months, she added, as RockYou unveils new products that will make it “very relevant” in the social games industry.
When I asked how RockYou hopes to stand out against giants like Zynga, Marino said the company isn’t just a game-maker. Yes, it’s focused on making games, but it’s also “a social entertainment company”. There’s a media and advertising side to RockYou’s business, which it uses to make money from its own games (so it’s not just tied to virtual goods) and to help other developers do the same.
“This was an aggressive move and a proactive move,” Marino said. “We’ve got a lot of money in the bank.”
Revenue is still strong, she added, with RockYou set to make more money in the fourth quarter of 2010 than it did in Q3 or Q2 (but not as much as Q1).
RockYou has raised $127 million in funding, so if its investors (including Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners) want to see a healthy return, they’ll need a bigger exit than rival Slide’s $228 million acquisition by Google.
Tokuda’s departure from the CEO role fit into that restructuring, Marino said, and it also came from his realization that as the company grows, it will need a “been here, done that” CEO with more experience growing organizations. For now, Marino and the rest of the current executive team are managing RockYou while the company searches for a replacement.
“Because the management team is doing well, we have the luxury of being patient to find the right candidate,” she said.
[Photo of Lance Tokuda at the Facebook Developer Garage via Flickr/Niall Kennedy]
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<b>News</b> - Jennifer Aniston, Chelsea Handler Flaunt Bikini Bods in <b>...</b>
The new BFFs show off their curves while celebrating Thanksgiving abroad.
Last Look: Style <b>News</b> You Might Have Missed (PHOTOS, POLL)
Welcome to Last Look, where we round up the Style scraps that didn't make it to our news page this week. Click through and catch up on what else happened since Monday!
Minecraft dev explains sales transparency PC <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>
Read our PC news of Minecraft dev explains sales transparency.
bench craft company reviews
<b>News</b> - Jennifer Aniston, Chelsea Handler Flaunt Bikini Bods in <b>...</b>
The new BFFs show off their curves while celebrating Thanksgiving abroad.
Last Look: Style <b>News</b> You Might Have Missed (PHOTOS, POLL)
Welcome to Last Look, where we round up the Style scraps that didn't make it to our news page this week. Click through and catch up on what else happened since Monday!
Minecraft dev explains sales transparency PC <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>
Read our PC news of Minecraft dev explains sales transparency.
bench craft company reviews
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