How Facebook and Zynga’s businesses couldn’t be more different; Motorola faces big-time staff cuts.
Groupon feels the heat [THE WALL STREET JOURNAL]
A Groupon attorney last month sent Mr. Silagadze a letter saying Top Hat was improperly recruiting Groupon employees. Top Hat’s 25-person sales staff includes eight former Groupon employees. Groupon’s turnover is “getting even worse when their best people are starting to leave,” Mr. Silagadze said, adding that he plans to continue hiring from the daily-deals company.
Facebook is the ant; Zynga is the grasshopper [TECHCRUNCH]
The reasons that the two companies have tanked in the market could not be more divergent, and more indicative of the character and strategic vision of the startups’ respective founders. Forget any analysis that lumps the two companies together, and instead find lessons in Aesop’s fable that are important to every startup founder. Zynga is the Grasshopper in Aesop’s fable, playing and trying to get others to play. … Grasshoppers just want to have fun.
Struggling GameStop reinventing itself [SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE]
In an effort to avoid the fate of Blockbuster, Circuit City and others in the remainder bin of failed retailers, GameStop has embarked on a daring, if inglorious, strategy: refashioning itself from a console-game purveyor into a repairer and reseller of Apple gadgets, betting that its retail visibility will prove an advantage.
Motorola set for big cuts as Google reinvents it [THE NEW YORK TIMES]
Motorola Mobility, the ailing cellphone maker that Google bought in May, told employees Sunday that it would lay off 20 percent of its work force and close a third of its 94 offices worldwide. The cuts are the first step in Google’s plan to reinvent Motorola, which has fallen far behind its biggest competitors, Apple and Samsung, and to shore up its Android mobile business and expand beyond search and software into the manufacture of hardware.
Barnes & Noble cuts prices across its Nook lineup, vies for your budget tablet affection [ENGADGET]
The 16 and 8GB models have been respectively reduced to $199 (from $249) and $179 (from $199), while the Nook Color is priced 20 bones cheaper than before at $149.