Former AIG chief exec, Philam Life in talks for non-life partnership

MANILA - The former CEO of American International Group (AIG) and the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co (Philam Life) are eyeing a possible tie-up in the area of non-life insurance in the country.

Rex A. Mendoza, Philam Life president and chief executive, said former AIG chief executive Maurice Raymond “Hank” Greenberg was recently in the country for exploratory talks.

Greenberg is the president, chairman and chief executive of C.V. Starr & Co. Inc. (C.V. Starr), which has been scouting for possible investments in Manila, possibly a non-life insurance firm.

Mendoza said Philam Life cannot give up its non-life unit to the Starr Group.

"It is a composite license so we will have to partner. Because the capitalization is with us so we have to comply with the capitalization requirements," Mendoza told reporters today.

"It should be a partnership between his Starr Group of Companies and us but that is a decision that is made in Hong Kong, not here," Mendoza said, adding that the tie-up makes sense because they do not have not much of a non-life operation.

He said a partnership with the Starr Group may not pose any conflict since Philam Life has already cut off ties with AIG when the Philippine insurer was absorbed by AIA Group Ltd.

AIG spun off AIA when the former was selling assets to get itself out of debt at the height of the subprime crisis of 2008-2009. Mendoza said this makes AIA "completely" out of the control of AIG, the local non-life unit of which is Chartis.

"So we're not related in any way anymore. We can partner," he aid.

On top of this, the possible partnership with the Starr Group would be seamless as Greenberg is no stranegr to Philam Life, Mendoza said.

"The Philippines is very close to his heart. He knows the people here. In fact he was telling me he was in a hotel, a lot of people took pictures with him. He knows that the Philippines is a place he is known and well respected," Mendoza said.

Given a choice between China and the Philippines, Greenberg would opt for the latter since it is the relationship, rather than finances, that matter, Mendoza said.

Eyeing National Life

Mendoza couldn't say if Philam Life is moving to acquire beleaguered National Life Insurance Co.

He, however, said Philam "is in very good position" and that it is "capable" of strategic acquisitions.

Last November, National Life faced liquidation unless it infused P100 million into the company.  It needed to inject P404 million in the next four years, with the first tranche made in October 2011, but missed making the second capital infusion. To meet the government's minimum paid-up capital for insurance firms, National Life must put in P200 million in the next two years.

It has about P800-million worth of debts with BDO Unibank Inc, Philippine Business Bank, and three non-bank firms.

source: interaksyon.com

Facebook, Zynga revamp partnership

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook Inc and Zynga Inc severed the cozy ties that once bound the Internet industry’s closest couple, revising a years-old partnership between the two companies.

The two companies reported in regulatory filings on Thursday that they had reached an agreement to amend a deal struck in 2010 that was widely seen as giving Zynga privileged status on the world’s No.1 social network.

Zynga stock fell 12 percent to $2.30 in after-hours trading. Facebook shares were off 5 cents at $27.27.

“Zynga’s favored nation’s status is gone but it seems like it’s been slipping away for a while now,” said PJ McNealy, CEO of Digital World Research.

The new agreement gives Zynga a freer hand to operate a standalone gaming website, but eliminates the San Francisco game publisher’s ability to promote its site on Facebook and to draw users from Facebook’s thriving social network of roughly 1 billion users.

Visitors to Zynga’s gaming website will no longer be able to tap into their network of Facebook friends or post messages about their gaming progress to Facebook.

Zynga games, like “FarmVille” and “Mafia Wars,” will still be available on Facebook’s social network, but those games will no longer feature cross-promotions directing users to Zynga’s standalone website.

The move underscores the widening gap between the two social networking pioneers, which went public within seven months of each other and have been intimately tied.

In recent quarters, fees from Zynga contributed 15 percent of Facebook’s total revenues, while Zynga relies on Facebook for roughly 80 percent of its revenue.

The 2010 agreement provided a variety of ways for Zynga to meet its monthly user growth targets, including guaranteed promotions of certain Zynga games on Facebook.

“Effective on March 31, 2013, certain provisions related to Web and mobile growth targets and schedules will no longer be applicable,” said a regulatory filing submitted by Zynga on Thursday.

The changes could benefit Zynga’s rivals who have long groused about Zynga receiving preferential treatment.

“There was plenty of speculation Zynga was getting referrals within the Facebook community that other gaming companies weren’t getting which helped drive web traffic to Zynga games,” said Digital World Research’s McNealy.

But he noted that recent changes to Facebook’s algorithm appeared to be helping drive more traffic to Zynga competitors such as Electronic Arts and KixEye.

In July, Zynga executives told analysts that the company’s revenue had plummeted in the second quarter as Facebook tweaked its algorithms, sending fewer gamers to Zynga titles. Zynga CEO Mark Pincus, at the time, assured Wall Street that Zynga was “working closely with Facebook to optimize the game ecosystem.”

Both Internet companies have been trying to reduce their inter-dependence, with Zynga starting up its own Zynga.com platform, and Facebook wooing other games developers.

“We have streamlined our terms with Zynga so that Zynga.com’s use of Facebook Platform is governed by the same policies as the rest of the ecosystem,” a Facebook spokesman said in a statement. “We will continue to work with Zynga, just as we do with developers of all sizes.”

Among the myriad terms of their new agreement, Zynga could elect not to collect revenue for games on its own website by solely using Facebook payment system, in which Facebook takes a 30 percent cut.

The game developer could also choose not to display Facebook’s ads on its own site, Zynga.com.

“Wall Street thinks Facebook is booting them off or something bad, but there’s no way this is bad,” said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. “This is at worst neutral and at best good.”

The revised agreement also allows Facebook to develop its own games, according to the filing. A person close to Facebook said the company “was not in the business of building games and we have not plans to do so.”

source: interaksyon.com

Yahoo and Clear Channel Forge Digital Radio Partnership

Yahoo and Clear Channel have anounced a distribution and cross-promotional deal.

As part of the multi-year agreement, Yahoo will begin using Clear Channel's iHeartRadio platform as its digital radio service and the station will promote both companies' content. In addition, the new joint venture will offer exclusive access to various concert series and other music events, including the two-day iHeartRadio Music Festival in September at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

This is the first agreement between the two giants.

According to Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman, the deal was forged after Yahoo's interim CEO Ross Levinsohn suggested it.

"We were thrilled when Ross approached us about this partnership," said Pittman in a statement. "We like the direction Yahoo! is going and by working together we can accelerate growth for the both of us."

Yahoo has recently been forging content relationships with the likes of ABC News and CNBC and has indicated a newfound focus on its online ad business for its media properties.

"This partnership will expand our ability to provide consumers and advertisers with the best premium content available and provide Clear Channel with unmatched digital reach," says Levinsohn.

Clear Channel, the biggest player in terrestrial radio, has been looking to bolster its digital business. Most notably, the company signed a pathbreaking deal with the Big Machine Label Group, home to Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts and others. The agreement allowed Clear Channel to bypass SoundExchange -- which sets rates for digitally streamed music that some have deemed to be expensive -- in favor of a direct profit sharing deal.

The latest deal marks another noteworthy agreement for Clear Channel.

As part of the new partnership, both entities will exploit their significant assets to promote each other's content. According to the companies, the Yahoo! Media Network reaches more than 167 million monthly online users and Clear Channel stations reach 237 million monthly listeners across 150 markets.

source: hollywoodreporter.com