Tag Archives: CNBC

The global crowdfunding money machine

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It’s crowdfunding money machineno secret that crowdfunding is a fast-growing movement, but did you know its success leads back to the 2008 financial crisis? A report by the World Bank, issued late last year, credits the crisis as one of the main catalysts to spur interest in crowdfunding, as more traditional forms of equity to establish new businesses became harder to get.

Since then, the numbers have spoken for themselves. Up until now, most people have focused on the figures for specific projects (like the $10.2 million Pebble raised on Kickstarter) or the price tag that some of those projects have commanded in their post-crowdfunding days—i.e. Facebook’s $2 billion acquisition of Oculus.

The Crowdfunding Centre, which has collected data from roughly 125,000 crowdfunded projects worldwide, recently issued a major data analysis of the fundraising practice during the first quarter of 2014. The study, the most recent data available, gives a clear look at just how big crowdfunding has become and offers some insight as to how far it still has to go.

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‘Halo’ creators’ ‘Destiny’ tops sales expectations

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“Destiny,” destinythe new video game from the creators of the “Halo” franchise, is already setting industry records.

Activision-Blizzard reported Wednesday that the game hauled in more than $500 million on its first day, making it the industry’s biggest new game franchise in history.

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Billion-dollar ‘Destiny?’ Creators of ‘Halo’ launch new game

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The destinycompany that made the Master Chief a household name in the videogame world is introducing players to a new universe.

Bungie’s “Destiny” hits stores Tuesday. And while analysts have high sales expectations for the game—and players have even higher hopes for the quality of play—it is Activision that has the most riding on the title.

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Amazon to buy game streaming service Twitch for $970 million

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Amazon’s amazon twitchinterest in the video game world is taking a huge step forward with Monday’s $970 million deal to buy game streaming service Twitch Interactive.

The all-cash deal, which came out of the blue after months of unconfirmed reports that Google’s YouTube unit was about to buy the company, will give Amazon an extraordinarily popular streaming video arm—one that could actually rival YouTube. It also continues the company’s ongoing efforts to assume a significant role in the gaming industry.

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‘Madden’ game kicks off big digital push for EA

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The madden 15“Madden” football franchise may not be the crown jewel at Electronic Arts anymore, but it still shines pretty bright. And this year, EA is counting on that shine to help it launch the company’s boldest digital push to date.

“Madden 15,” the 26th installment in the long-running series, officially hits store shelves on Aug. 26, but superfans of the game were able to start playing on Aug. 21 by subscribing to EA Access, a just-launched Netflix-like service that lets fans play back catalog EA games and get early looks at new titles for $5 per month or $30 per year.

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Flappy Bird creator’s new game shoots up charts

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Six swing coptersmonths after pulling down his phenomenally successful app “Flappy Bird” from app stores, the Vietnamese developer behind the viral hit has a new hit game in stores—and there are signs it might be every bit as addictive to gamers as his first.

“Swing Copters” hit both the Apple and Google app stores Thursday morning and is already garnering high praise from critics and players. It’s moving up the charts at a phenomenal pace, too. As of 2 p.m. ET, the game was already the 47th most popular app in all of Apple’s store—and the 12th most popular game.

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Google in 10 years? Even bigger, say analysts

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Google google in 10 yearsis undeniably a big deal, and analysts believe it’s only getting bigger. Ten years after it went public, the search and advertising giant has become an indispensable part of many people’s daily lives.

With a healthy cash stockpile on hand, an active venture capital arm and a cache that’s unrivaled in the online world, Google should be able to not only maintain its king of the hill status, but expand upon it over the next decade, analysts say.

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Google execs: Where are they now?

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In past google execsthe 10 years since Google’s IPO, there has been a lot of coming and going among the company’s executive ranks.

Some senior staff members, wealthy from their stock options, decided the time was right to take a chance on a new venture. Others were lured to new positions, where they saw the chance to lead an Internet powerhouse—something they’d either never get to do at Google or would have to wait most of their career for the opportunity.

The success rate of Google’s executive defectors has been phenomenal, however. Here’s a look at where nine of the most notable have landed.

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The Kickstarter Hall of Slightly Insane (projects)

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Crowdfunding Kickstarter weirdnesshas resulted in some terrific new products that might never have seen the light of day. But for every Pebble Watch and Oculus Rift, there’s a very weird counterpart.

Indeed, people support not only the ingenious items on sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo but also often gravitate toward the unusual ones, many of which defy logic and reason but astonishingly meet or even exceed funding goals.

Sometimes it’s a joke that goes viral. Sometimes it’s a legitimate product or campaign that may not make a lot of sense to most people. And sometimes there’s just no explanation for the appeal. Here’s a look at 10 of the oddest crowdfunding projects that have actually struck a chord with backers.

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10 lessons learned from Kickstarter’s hall of fame

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Kickstarter Kickstarter lessonshas raised a lot of money in its short history. Over the past five years, contributors to the crowdfunding site have pledged more than $1.2 billion, successfully funding more than 65,000 projects.

Most of those projects raised $10,000 or less, but every now and then there’s a true breakout—something that goes viral and collects substantially more. We’ve already run down the top money earners for you, but what happened after the campaign ended?

Here’s a look at what has happened after backers gave their money, along with some important lessons—both good and bad—that crowdfunding hopefuls can learn from Kickstarter’s 10 biggest success stories.

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