liveuniverse

DivX, parent company of defunct video-sharing site Stage6, on Tuesday disclosed how it came to the decision to shutter the service rather than to sell.

"Potential copyright litigation" was one of management's top considerations leading up to the shuttering of Stage6, Dan Halvorson, DivX's chief financial officer, said during a conference call to announce the public company's fourth-quarter earnings. There was reason for concern. Turns out DivX, a maker of Internet-video technologies, had lost a bid to avoid fighting costly copyright suits just a few weeks before Stage6 was closed, records show.

Halvorson almost certainly … Read more

Brad Greenspan, the highly unpredictable MySpace cofounder, continues to go after distressed Web video sites.

Fresh from acquiring troubled video site Revver, Greenspan said in a press release on Friday that he recently made an $11 million bid to acquire video-sharing site Stage6, operated by DivX. The problem is that the DivX board never responded to his offer before simply shutting down Stage6. Greenspan's miffed.

"After LiveUniverse makes its first offer, DivX Board refuses to engage in any direct dialogue with LiveUniverse for over 5 days," according to the release issued by Greenspan's company Live Universe. &… Read more

Brad Greenspan, co-founder of MySpace.com and founder of LiveUniverse, an online entertainment network, announced that his company has acquired ailing video-sharing site Revver.

Greenspan said in a statement that he plans to merge the offerings of Revver and LiveVideo.com, his company's social-network and video site. Revver will continue to operate under its own brand.

But the ex-MySpace executive did not pass up the opportunity to take a few swipes at his former company. Greenspan opposed the 2005 sale of MySpace to News Corp. and has badmouthed MySpace and its parent company ever since.

Half of his press … Read more

Employees of video-sharing site Revver said they breathed a sigh of relief Thursday after management informed them that the company had been acquired by LiveUniverse, a little-known online entertainment network.

Representatives from both companies declined to comment, but two Revver employees and an executive at a company that had inquired about bidding on Revver said managers there had informed them the sale was done. The blog NewTeeVee was first to report the acquisition.

In a report earlier this month, CNET News.com cited sources who said the beleaguered Revver was asking for between $300,000 and $500,000 and the … Read more

CNET News.com's Caroline McCarthy contributed to this report.

Revver, a YouTube competitor that made a name for itself by paying video producers, has fallen on hard times.

The company's staff has dwindled to less than half the size it was 18 months ago, according to former employees. Rumors flitter around the Web about whether the company is running out of money. Now comes word that Revver has been trying to sell itself at a fire-sale price for months, according to three sources close to the company.

Revver's asking price is between $300,000 and $500,000, … Read more