living social

LivingSocial hacked; 50 million affected

Daily deals Web site LivingSocial is the latest database target for hackers, who have compromised the personal information of more than 50 million people.

In internal LivingSocial e-mails obtained by AllThingsD, the unknown culprits appear to have made off with the names, e-mails, birthdates, and encrypted passwords of what appears to be the vast majority of LivingSocial customers.

The Washington, D.C.-based site, owned in part by Amazon, claims around 70 million customers worldwide. The company's divisions in the Philippines, South Korea, Indonesia, and Thailand remain unaffected because they are hosted on different servers.

To put this breach … Read more

LivingSocial raises $110M in funding from current investors

LivingSocial has raised $110 million in funding from its current investors, Chief Executive Tim O'Shaughnessy wrote today in a memo to employees, giving the daily deals site a much-needed cash infusion.

"This investment is a tremendous vote of confidence in our business from the people who know us best, our current board members and investors," he said in a memo viewed by CNET. "They have reviewed our plans for 2013, and they are enthusiastic enough to want to commit additional financial resources through this round."

The financing followed a "competitive process" in which … Read more

Deal sites have a rough year

Groupon, the company that made daily deals popular for consumers, has had a tough tumble. After finally going public late last year, the company faced massive competition, slowed growth in revenue and a decimated stock in 2012. In its early days, Groupon was a tech superstar, charging along on a mission to become the fastest-growing company in history. But as the months passed, the company was plagued by slumping stock, a shareholder lawsuit and the rumored unrest from employees trying to leave the company.

Much of the blame has fallen on the shoulders of CEO Andrew Mason, who once had … Read more

LivingSocial said to lay off nearly 10 percent of staff

Rumor has it that LivingSocial is planning to lay off up to 400 employees tomorrow, according to the Washington Business Journal.

Sources aware of the daily deals company's plans told the Journal that the layoffs will be in U.S. offices and will include various positions and markets. Currently, the company has around 4,500 employees, according to its website, so the layoffs would decrease its staff by nearly 10 percent.

LivingSocial has tried to branch into other markets this past year to make up for its financial woes, which equaled a net loss of $566 million in the … Read more

LivingSocial promotes Fab for the holidays

Fab keeps making friends in all the right spaces.

Daily deals site LivingSocial today started featuring gifts from the spunky e-commerce site as part of its holiday gift list.

Fab CEO Jason Goldberg wrote in a blog today that the inclusion of Fab products into LivingSocial's online store is a "perfect" partnership. "We could not be more excited about partnering with LivingSocial to bring Fab's curation to their large and highly engaged customer base," Goldberg wrote.

The move puts Fab's products in front of LivingSocial's 24 million U.S. members. While 50 … Read more

HTC fires up daily deals for One X+, Windows Phone 8X and 8S

HTC is getting into the daily-deals business in Europe.

The company today announced a new service, called Best Deals, that aims at delivering "money-saving deals" to those who own HTC smartphones. According to HTC, the service is launching on the One X+, as well as the Windows Phone 8X and 8S, in November. Best Deals will also come to the HTC One X and One S in a future software update.

In order to get the service off the ground, HTC has partnered with a host of deals providers, including LivingSocial, which will deliver offers through Best Deals … Read more

Facebook Offers no longer free

Facebook Offers aren't free for merchants anymore. As the company seeks new ways to increase revenue, it has started charging businesses to run deals on its site.

The social networking giant launched Facebook Offers earlier this year as a free service that allows business to send promotions directly to user news feeds. A company's Facebook fans are able to redeem vouchers for discounts.

The offers remain free for users to redeem, but Facebook now requires merchants to spend at least $5 on related ads to accompany their vouchers, the company said today. The amount charged will depend on … Read more

Marketer that sued Groupon now targeting Living Social

Blue Calypso, a little-known marketing company, filed suit against Living Social for patent infringement just weeks after accusing Groupon of the same infraction.

The company, which says it provides marketing services for businesses via social media and loyalty rewards services, says Groupon and Living Social has been using its technology.

"As a technology innovator, it is our duty to protect what we have created from illegitimate use," Bill Ogle, CEO of Blue Calypso said in a statement. "The current landscape for social engagement is growing and with that brings interest and need for the platform we developed … Read more

The 404 1,111: Where we don't make a deal (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- This is the burger that ended Ariel's six-year vegetarian streak

- Groupon turns a profit, but sales fall short

- Groupon salespeople disgruntled, ready to jump ship, report says

- Groupon shares down 22 percent, despite increased sales, profit

- Facedeals lets you check in for coupons with your face

- Chinese Iron Man spends eight years building himself bionic hands after DIY accident

Bathroom break video: The Red Bull F1 running showcar plays the Star-Spangled Banner.

Google's Wonder Woman could save Yahoo

Tuesday's biggest tech story has a superstar trading teams, and I'm not talking Jeremy Lin:

Are you dusting off that Yahoo email account? Freshening up your Flickr page? Yahoo got a dose of Google cool factor with its new CEO, 37-year-old Marissa Mayer. She was a top executive at Google and Google's first female employee. She oversaw pretty much every Google service that's a common part of your life, including maps and search. Expect Mayer to breathe new life into Yahoo's services. Perhaps she can even lure talented computer minds to join her new team. … Read more