Placentia-based VidShadow Inc., which runs a video sharing and networking site, said it has acquired a minority stake in a company that lets people download and sell ringtones, photos and videos on their mobile phones.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Both companies are privately held.
VidShadow acquired the stake in MyNuMo LLC of Los Angeles. MyNuMo runs a Web site for creating and publishing cell phone ringtones, wallpapers and videos.
The content is rated and promoted by other users and can be downloaded for a fee, a bit of which the creator keeps.
VidShadow runs a site where users can post video clips and keep in touch with friends and family. There’s a twist. Users earn credit as people watch their videos.
The videos on VidShadow.com are syndicated to more than 2,500 Web sites, which take a cut of advertising revenue when the page is viewed.
Morning deejay “Manny on the Street” from radio station KIIS-FM syndicates his show through VidShadow to other entertainment sites.
“He is able to get an aggregated number of page views and build his audience,” said Jordan Hudgens, VidShadow’s founder.
Hudgens started the company back in October at the age of 23.
The company had an initial round of funding from private investors that totaled $2.5 million, he said.
It’s is set to do a “reverse merger”,where it plans to go public by way of being bought by a publicly traded shell company,in June.
VidShadow is profitable with a valuation of about $50 million, according to Hudgens.
The company’s chief executive, Dave Behar, helped create Hotmail, one of the first big Web e-mail services, and later sold it to Microsoft Corp. for about $400 million.
Tech Conference
Octane, the Orange County group that promotes technology entrepreneurs, is set to host its Southern California summit on chips and communications technology on June 5.
The all-day event, featuring some big local tech names, is set for the Newport Beach Marriott.
The conference is the first of its kind for Octane.
The group secured one of Orange County’s top dogs for a keynote speech: Henry Samueli of Irvine’s Broadcom Corp.
Gil Amelio, head of Jazz Semiconductor Inc. also is set to speak.
Conexant Systems Inc.’s Dwight Decker and D-Link Systems Inc. Chief Executive Steven Joe are set to lead a panel on the role chips play in the “digital home.”
Mindspeed Technologies Inc. boss Raouf Halim plans to speak on a panel about chips in high-speed communications.
Some 30 startup companies, investors, industry analysts and researchers are expected to discuss the “state of the chip”,new technologies and trends.
A lively debate is promised about the future of data storage,flash memory versus disk drives.
For more information and online registration, visit www.octaneoc.org.
New Director
Santa Ana’s MSC.Software Corp., a maker of industrial simulation software, recently elected an aerospace and defense veteran to its board.
Randy Brinkley is chief executive of Oklahoma City-based Rocketplane Kistler, parent company of privately held Rocketplane Ltd. and Kistler Aerospace Corp.
Brinkley “will bring specific knowledge of our simulation industry as well as vast experience in the defense and satellite industries,” said Bill Weyand, chief executive of MSC.Software. “Randy will help guide our return to being a growth company particularly in the aerospace and defense industries.”
Brinkley formerly was president of Boeing Satellite Systems Inc. and before that was senior vice president of programs for Hughes Space and Communications Co.
He was the National Aeronautics and Space Administration program manager for the international space station, for which he was inducted into the Smithsonian’s Aviation Hall of Fame. He was the mission director for NASA’s efforts to repair the Hubble telescope.
MSC.Software’s products allow manufacturers, tech companies and big research institutions to test their designs virtually, without building expensive prototypes.
Aerospace and defense customers include Boeing Co., Airbus SAS, BAE Systems PLC, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp., according to company filings.
Two weeks ago, MSC.Software said it swung to a loss in the first quarter on lower sales, higher costs and a $7 million restructuring charge.
