Yahoo!: Alibaba Stake Now Worth $36B, Says RBC

RBC Capital Markets‘s Mark Mahaney this afternoon reiterated an Outperform rating on shares of Yahoo!, and raised his price target to $44 from $38, writing that the value of the company’s stake in Alibaba Group Holding, the privately-owned e-commerce giant of China, has risen to $36 billion from what he had previously modeled as $26.4 billion.

Yahoo! analysts have been raising expecatations for what Alibaba may ultimately be worth in an IPO, though the timing of an offering is uncertain.

Mahaney was in China last week talking with investors and companies, and was impressed with Alibaba’s $5.7 billion in “total merchandise sales” on 11/11, the China version of Black Friday shopping. That amount was more than twice the value of total U.S. Online sales on Cyber Monday, he notes.

Herefore raises his valuation on Alibaba to $150 billion from $110 billion, and multiplies that by Yahoo!’s 24% stake in the firm:

Mahaney’s sum-of-the-parts model for Yahoo!, in which he thinks all of Yahoo!, including its stake in Yahoo! Japan, should be worth about $45 billion:

Google Play Gift Cards Come To Japan, Offering Up To ¥20,000 ($195) Per Card

There’s good news for Android fans in Japan after Google Play gift cards were introduced there for the first time today.

The vouchers can be used to purchase new apps, games, books, movies, music and magazines from Google Play — either from an Android device via the Google Play app, or from play.google.com.

Customers can pick up credit in the following denominations: ¥1,500 (circa $15), ¥3,000 ($30), ¥5,000 ($50), ¥10,000 ($100), ¥15,000 ($145), ¥20,000 ($195).

Japan is the first in Asia to get gift cards, which are available in seven other countries – though the Japanese denominations go far higher than the top card price of $50/£50/€50 elsewhere.

Facebook Considers Sympathize Button On Status Updates

Facebook is considering adding a less cheery alternative to its “Like” Button: a “sympathize” button.

The social network has been toying with this option, which was devised at a Facebook hackathon, a Facebook engineer said Thursday. Here’s how it could work: if you were to tag your status with a negative emotion (from Facebook’s lists of feelings), the “Sympathize” button would automatically replace the “Like button.”

And as much as we all want one, it seems Facebook is just never going to add a “dislike” button. (Basically, we are all Gretchen Weiners and Mark Zuckerberg is Regina George and he’s saying, “Stop trying to make a “dislike” button happen. It’s not going to happen.”)

The “Sympathize” feature isn’t making its way to the site “yet,” said a Facebook spokesperson. Until then, we’ll just carry on with awkward silences.

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BuzzFeed Said to Expect 2014 Sales of Up to $120 Million

BuzzFeed Inc., the online publisher of news, lists and quizzes that are designed to be shared on social media, is forecasting revenue of as much as $120 million in 2014, said two people with knowledge of its financials.

The sales level will depend on how many advertising deals are booked next year, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the numbers are private. BuzzFeed has projected about $60 million in sales for 2013, according to another person familiar with the matter, indicating that revenue may double next year.

The company, based in New York, has seen its Web traffic more than quadruple over the past year, vaulting it into the top ranks of news sites. BuzzFeed is now completing work on its 2014 budget and will soon present the numbers to the board, one of the people said. This year’s revenue projection was raised from $40 million in the middle of 2013 because the startup was growing faster than expected, according to the person.

BuzzFeed, started in 2006 by Huffington Post co-founder Jonah Peretti, relies on Facebook and other social networks to spread its articles and videos. Peretti, who serves as Chief Executive Officer, said in September that the startup, which has more than 300 employees, is profitable.

Pinterest’s Engineering Lead Jon Jenkins Leaves To Launch His Own Startup

Jon Jenkins, who joined Pinterest a year ago as its head of engineering, is leaving the company in what he describes on Quora as a “bittersweet” decision. Jenkins says wants to launch his own company, a wish he had even before he joined Pinterest. A representative from Pinterest said that the company is now looking for Jenkins’ successor.

Jenkins also said that during his year at Pinterest, the company’s engineering team has more than tripled in size. New features launched include place pins, a localized Japanese site, its first API for partners and new versions of its Android and iOS apps.

In a statement, Pinterest said “We’d like to thank JJ for his contribution to Pinterest and wish him all the best on his next project. We feel fortunate to have leaders within engineering who are ready to step up and run the organization while we recruit for a permanent head of engineering.”

Before joining Pinterest, Jenkins served as Amazon’s engineering lead for eight years and led the team responsible for the Silk browser on the Kindle Fire. He was also director of development tools, director of platform analysis and director of website platform. Jenkins’ hire was a sign that Pinterest, which has three non-technical co-founders, was starting to get serious about the technical challenges of building up its site’s infrastructure.

Tencent Poised To Become China's Mobile Gaming Juggernaut

If there were any doubts about Tencent's success in developing its mobile gaming business, they were cast aside after the company reported last month about 570 million registered users for its initial batch of smartphone-based games.

Shenzhen-based Tencent, the mainland's largest listed internet company, commercially released five in-house-developed mobile games in the quarter to September on its Mobile QQ and WeChat social communications platforms.

Each of those games jumped into the top-three ranking of mobile games on the mainland upon release and continued to rank among the top 25 in the domestic market, The games include Timi Match Everyday and Rhythm Master.

Tencent, the mainland's leading developer and operator of online games for desktop personal computers, is now set to become the biggest mobile games company in the world's largest smartphone market.

Alicia Yap, head of China internet research at Barclays, said in the report: "We believe Tencent is best-positioned to leverage the shift in traffic from PC gaming to mobile gaming."

She said the company's experience in running a strong online games business, as well as the wide adoption of Mobile QQ and WeChat, would serve it well in developing its mobile games user base.

Livefyre Taps Catherine van Zuylen as VP of Product

Livefyre, provider of the leading real-time conversation and social curation platform, today announced the appointment of Catherine van Zuylen as VP of Product. Van Zuylen will define and develop the strategy, and product roadmap for all of Livefyre’s real-time conversation and social curation products, while closely aligning this plan with the strategic business decisions for the company.

A social media veteran, van Zuylen has deep experience leading product management and strategy for high-growth companies, most recently serving as Vice President of Products for Attensity, a leader in multi-channel engagement and analytics. There, she played an instrumental role in the expansion of Attensity's offerings, providing real-time views of conversations on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media by identifying developing trends and routing appropriate reports and messages to various constituents across the enterprise.

founder and CEO Jordan Kretchmer stated, “Product is at the heart of everything we do at Livefyre. Creating an intuitive, functional and beautiful user experience drives our strategy and business decisions and separates us from our competitors. We are honored to bring on a seasoned product professional like van Zuylen whose experience in social, analytics and strategy will allow Livefyre to remain the market leader in real-time social curation and conversation, while also enhancing our current product offerings and thought leadership.”