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1
BAD 25 / The Official BAD 25 Thread
« on: June 08, 2012, 11:26:45 AM »
[Edit: thanks for modifying the thread into

End edit.]


If this was posted already, feel free to delete or move.
Maybe we can open a BAD 25 chapter? I have a feeling there might be more around the corner.

You may listen to the snippet on the second link.

Quote
  • You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login "Don't Be Messin' 'Round" is available for the first time on the re-release of "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" the first of five consecutive #1 singles from MJ's landmark album BAD which celebrates it's 25th anniversary with the release of BAD 25 on September 18th. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login | You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
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Michael Jackson News  JUNE 5TH RE-RELEASE OF THE #1 SINGLE, "I JUST CAN’T STOP LOVING YOU" INCLUDES PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED DEMO TRACK  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
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On Tuesday, June 5th The Estate of Michael Jackson and SONY Music Entertainment will re-release the first #1 single from BAD, "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", with a previously unreleased bonus demo track from the BAD sessions titled, "Don't Be Messin' 'Round". This special single re-release will not be released digitally; it is only available on CD at Wal-Mart.com, Wal-Mart stores in the U.S. and at other locations worldwide.
"Don't Be Messin' Round" was re-discovered in MJ's personal vault during the research process for BAD 25, the 25th anniversary edition of BAD available September 18th. Listen to a preview clip below.
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Quote
Are you ready for a feeling time
 are you ready for a good treat
 now there’s so much entertainment
 are you yeah ..in to me
 
 Chorus:
 So don’t be messin’ around, don’t be messin around
 don’t be messin’ around hey hey hey
 don’t be messin’ around, don’t be messin’ around
 don’t be messin’ around hey
 
 If I started now in the deep
 thinking said this feeling is your life
 I’ll be so proud if you let the only one
 that we love before a little while
 
 Chorus:
 Don’t be messin’ around, don’t be messin around
 don’t be messin’ around hey hey hey
 so don’t be messin’ around, don’t be messin’ around
 don’t be messin’ around hey
 oho yeah yeah,
 oho yeah, oho yeah, oho yeah
 
 Now just started think of pumpin
 to the beat I said let’s movin up late
 she said to keep your mind
 there’s won’t be no romance
 no no mess around with me I..
 
 Chorus:
 Don’t be messin’ around, don’t be messin around
 don’t be messin’ around hey hey hey
 so don’t be messin’ around, don’t be messin’ around
 don’t be messin’ around hey hey


Full song on youtube:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qxdmR5AtBo&feature=related[/youtube]
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2
Random MJ Talk / Michael Jackson Reincarnated
« on: June 02, 2012, 02:08:57 AM »
watch...

Michael Jackson Reincarnated as Dagestan Construction Worker?
June 1st, 2012 2:43 PM by Free Britney     

The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject (a republic) of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Dagestan is rich in oil, natural gas, coal, and many other resources.

Like SICK DANCE MOVES!

Check out this video of a construction worker breaking it down on the job to Michael Jackson's classic "Billie Jean." Guy can moonwalk like a champion!

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3
Ideas & Suggestion for MJDHI / Forum, Members And Troublemakers
« on: May 28, 2012, 06:03:32 AM »
I'm opening this in a new thread to not exploit the thread about Back and Front.

There will be more attacks to unhinge us and the board as such. The more the other sides realize they were on the wrong path, the more they will come try to get us out of the way. Psychological moments of scratched vanity. Not to be underestimated when it comes to those big players we keep pricking like a dry bred crumb.
Tiny but effective.


I think it is time to show as a group where we stand.
This attacking and slandering cannot be avoided and will be repeated. Those after ban executions of poisoning the world will see their fate arrive without any actions from our side.
But we can avoid to fall into their similar traps again and again while they are here.


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We need to stay united, in between us the older forum-members, because most probably we will see more tabloid-TROLLS like this trying to attack the forum (admins) and disintegrate our group.
Now more than ever we need to support Souza in her actions and decisions, unless we want to see the forum closed! I think Souza's patience and energy are close to an end, and NOBODY could blame her... watching all the bizarre users/comments lately!!

New forum-members are welcome, but they need to watch out how they behave if they don't want to be mistaken/confused with forum-haters/trolls!

I just hope, we can get back to our purely investigative and funny talks again.
I for one, I am sick and and tired of ALL the whining, drama-stories, wives-wannabes, sexy-dreams about Mike, hysterical trolls attacking and accusing us of all the world atrocities! I think that we are stronger and ABOVE that, we, as a group of this forum! Let's get over with this CIRCUS once and for all and look at the amazing things that are unfolding in FRONT of our eyes!! There are still so many interesting, unheard of things to discover, YET we are stopped/blocked by superficial, naive , useless and time-consuming "conflicts".

@Sim and everyone else, I've been quiet recently and have not been spending much time here because I've really had it with all the fighting and drama (and obsessed 'fans' as well). I've almost got to the point where my 'deadline' that I talked about a few days ago actually will not come into play because I'll have left the forum long before that time comes.

Then I read Sim's post above and think 'do I really want to be forced out by the workings of troublemakers?' Isn't that giving them just what they want?

Which leads me to wondering if there's not a different/better way of tackling these 'interruptions' than getting into pages and pages of public arguing.

Souza, I've spoken to you before about my experiences on another forum (non MJ related) where the admin/mods actually read and moderate EVERY SINGLE POST before allowing them to be seen! Obviously this is extremely time-consuming and actually in reality, spoils the free-flowing nature of conversation (so I stopped posting there!), but it did keep the site safe and on-topic. I'm not suggesting you do this!

But I wonder if you'd consider a different course of action when you come across a post you're not happy about. How about if instead of questioning the poster publicly on the thread and thus opening the floodgates to god-knows-what, you were to (temporarily) delete it from the thread, question the poster in PM, and then depending on their response, either re-instate their post or leave it permanently deleted. I don't think this would be more time-consuming than your current way of dealing with things - in fact it could be a far quicker way of sussing out a member's true intentions. By doing it in private, a troublemaker would not be getting the public attention they crave, while a genuine poster with a genuine point would be happy to clear up any misunderstanding before going public.

So, firstly, would this be possible techie-wise, you know, with your awesome admin superpowers?!  And secondly, would this, or some other approach, be something you would be willing to consider in order to keep your house clean?

@Curls, you are bringing up an interesting example.
 
Still the question is what we want to share in here.
Freedom and flow of conversation - this will invite troublesome souls as we saw it happen many times. This is our current approach as I understand it and enables everybody to join and post without being "managed".
 
Or is it a fully moderated forum that we want - this will diminish the aggressions from the beginning but also lead to rumors of "censorship behind closed doors" (and requires additional mods or a tremendous workload for the existing ones.)
 
Isn't there a third way to allow the forum to remain as it is and simply change our reactions?
Can we not just step back and ignore posts that are expressing a mindset we don't agree with?
Wouldn't it be more than fair to support Souza in her tremendous workload if we would agree and align in refraining from any emotional argy-bargy OURSELVES?

We 1) know what it leads to and 2) have better to do than spend our precious time and resources on feather-picking. Trolls and troublemakers can only be ignored. There's no other way to get rid of them. They feed on attention. They get away when they don't succeed.

We don't need to change the forum IMHO.
We just need to stop to dance according to troublemakers' rhythm.
E.g. for getting the "ignore as of now" known, we may use PM.
We don't have to leave the house cleaning solely on Souza's shoulders either.

What do you folks think we should do about it?

4
Quote
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Three years after the death of Michael Jackson, back on the court case that has fascinated the entire world: the trial of the doctor of the star.  Found guilty of manslaughter, Dr. Murray was sentenced to four years in prison for his role in the death of "King of Pop".  Dissemination of new documentary in France "Michael Jackson and Dr. Murray: a fatal friendship" (2011), directed by Tom Roberts, Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 20:35 on France Ô.   

By Amandine Deroubaix:
"Convicted of manslaughter, the cardiologist Conrad Murray did not want to testify at his trial ultra publicized, but agreed to confide to the camera by Tom Roberts. In this documentary, filmed during the court hearings, he gives his version of events. He described a relationship with the pop star and is about a man alone, and insomniac addicted to drugs. He recounts the many pressures on the eve of the tour and ensures that on the night of his death, the star had begged him to inject a dose of propofol, a sedative that Michael Jackson used as a sleeping pill last few years. "
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Original article:
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The website of the TV station:
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France Ô is a French public television network featuring programming from the French You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login. It is part of the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login group. Its overseas counterpart is You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login. It is available through You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login and the new You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login system.
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5
Other Odd Things / Michael Jackson costumes to be exhibited, sold
« on: May 14, 2012, 01:10:37 PM »
Michael Jackson costumes to be exhibited, sold   

10:26 AM, May 14, 2012
By SANDY COHEN Associated Press
           
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An undated image released by Julien's Auctions, shows a a Michael Jackson "Beat It" style jacket used on stage during the 1992-1993 Dangerous Tour.  /  Julien's Auctions / AP PHOTO
   
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An undated image released by Julien's Auctions, shows a Michael Jackson right handed glove covered in crystals, designed by Tompkins & Bush.  /  Julien's Auctions / AP PHOTO           


Michael Jackson's glittery gloves, spangled jackets, stage-worn costumes and personal fashion effects are going on a world tour.
Celebrity auctioneer Darren Julien says clothing created by Jackson's longtime costume designers will be exhibited in South America, Europe and Asia before being sold to the highest bidder in December.
The exhibit opens May 18 at the Museo de la Moda in Santiago, Chile. It features items such as Jackson's Captain EO shirt, the black spandex outfit from his "Scream" video and the breakaway suit he wore during his BAD tour in the late 1980s.
The items will be sold by Julien's Auction on December 2, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Guide Dogs of America and Nathan Adelson Hospice in Las Vegas.

   

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6
General Hoax Talk / ... see you in July ...
« on: May 12, 2012, 12:35:51 PM »
Looking back and forwards, I think there are some reasons to pay attention to the upcoming months leading to June and July. Hope I got it all right - what else did I miss?

 July 3, 1983 - release of Thriller
 July 3, 2008 - release of Thriller 25
 July 3, 2009 - release of Neverland ghost video - "privacy was key" - with a huge key jumping into our eyes (Miko Brando & CNN)
 
 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=0ypna0kn448[/youtube]
 Michael Jackson - Neverland Ranch "Ghost" - YouTube
 
 July 3, 2009 - LaToya visits Carolwood Drive
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 July 3, 2009 - announcement of memorial lottery
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 July 3, 2012 - release of "The Amazing Spiderman" (Columbia - Sony)
 
 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GXFPLYzBkPc[/youtube]
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 July 10, 2010 - mjjpictures.com went on hiatus
 
Quote
MJJPictures will be on hiatus for a few weeks. We need time to work things out and come back with a new look. We'll keep u update ...
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 July 20, 2011 - postponed start of C. Murray's trial
 July 20, 2012 - release of "Batman - The Dark Knight Rises" (Warner Bros.)
 
 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8evyE9TuYk&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
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7
TMZ Discussion / Odd TMZ business connection to AOL via HPMG
« on: March 31, 2012, 02:47:48 AM »
 Just for the records:
 
TMZ are permanently linking on their PR activities' site to EHM Productions, Inc. and HPMG News.
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Quote
identifying Corporate Parent Warner Bros Entertainment Inc. for EHM Productions, Inc.
.
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EHM Productions, Inc. are listed as
- Theatrical Producers/Services
- Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events without Facilities
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HPMG (Huffington Post Media Group) is an AOL company.
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AOL and Time Warner split into separate companies in 2009.
 
Quote
On May 28, 2009, Time Warner announced that it would spin off AOL as a separate independent company, with the change occurring on December 9, 2009.
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These are the major share holders of AOL shares:
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So what is the basis for a continued link cooperation between TMZ and HPMG?

8
Has anybody noticed this before?
There is a helicopter at Neverland in 2003 around the time of the birthday bash that looks like Sheriff's rescue #5?

At 0:03.
 
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbRWog8jUFs&feature=channel[/youtube]
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9
Martin Bandier Signs Long-Term Contract to Remain Chairman and CEO, SONY/ATV Music Publishing
* Reuters is not responsible for the content in this press release.       
Mon Mar 19, 2012 10:00am EDT
   
 Martin Bandier Signs Long-Term Contract to Remain Chairman and CEO, SONY/ATV Music Publishing
 Renowned Music Executive To Continue Leading Award-Winning Business
 Sony Corporation of America announced today that Martin N. Bandier has signed a long-term contract extension to remain as Chairman and CEO of Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC. Sony/ATV Music Publishing is a joint venture between Sony Corporation and the Estate of Michael Jackson.
 Since arriving at Sony/ATV Music Publishing in 2007, Mr. Bandier has grown the company in impressive ways. Throughout the past five years, Mr. Bandier has re-energized the music publisher by putting an emphasis on attracting the industry’s best emerging talent including signing writer-artists like Lady Gaga, Enrique Iglesias, Pitbull and Shakira as well as songwriter-producers like Jeff Bhasker, Boi-1Da, Evan Bogart, JR Rotem and RedOne. As a result of his efforts, Sony/ATV Music Publishing has gone on to win many of the industry’s top honors including the ASCAP Pop Publisher of the Year (for the first time in the company’s history in 2009) and the BMI Pop Publisher of the Year (for the first time in over 15 years in 2011). Sony/ATV Music Publishing has also been awarded both the BMI Country Publisher of the Year as well as the ASCAP Latin Publisher of the Year every year of Mr. Bandier’s tenure at the company.
 Since joining the company, Sony/ATV Music Publishing has twice been awarded the prestigious Sony Corporation Award for Excellence, which recognizes an operating company’s stellar performance in a given fiscal year. Prior to Mr. Bandier’s arrival, Sony/ATV had never been presented with the award.
 In November 2011, an investor group that includes Sony Corporation of America in conjunction with the Estate of Michael Jackson, Mubadala Development Company PJSC, Jynwel Capital Limited, the Blackstone Group's GSO Capital Partners LP and David Geffen signed an agreement to acquire EMI Music Publishing. Subject to approval, Sony/ATV Music Publishing will help oversee EMI Music Publishing and will reunite Mr. Bandier with a company he spent over 17 years building.
 “Working at Sony/ATV Music Publishing, especially with its talented artists, songwriters and staff, has been one of the best highlights of my career,” said Mr. Bandier. “Over the past five years, we have shared some incredible moments and I am humbled by the confidence and support that Sony and the Estate of Michael Jackson continue to place in me for the development and growth of their joint venture. With the addition of EMI Music Publishing, a company I spent over 17 years building, the future looks very promising for many more shared successes.”
 “At a vital time for Sony/ATV, I am delighted that Marty has agreed to continue his expert leadership of this important company,” said Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman, CEO & President, Sony Corporation. “Music publishing is an incredibly successful part of our business and with Marty staying on at the helm, Sony/ATV is well positioned for the years ahead.”
 “Marty Bandier is, and for years has been, the leading publisher in the world,” said John Branca and John McClain, co-executors of the Estate of Michael Jackson. “We are thrilled he will be at Sony/ATV for years to come. Marty’s experience, wealth of knowledge and creativity set the standard by which others are measured.”
 Mr. Bandier’s move to Sony/ATV Music Publishing in 2007 matched the most renowned music-publishing executive in the industry with the company that not only controls some of its most valuable catalogue assets, but also boasts a stellar roster of the most active and popular current artists and writers. The catalogues include a generation-spanning mix of some of the biggest names in music, from the Beatles, Brooks & Dunn, Leonard Cohen, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Richie Sambora, and Hank Williams to Akon, Lady Gaga, Enrique Iglesias, Jessie J and Taylor Swift.
 Mr. Bandier was named chairman and CEO of EMI Music Publishing in 1989 after a merger between SBK, a company he founded, and Thorn EMI. Under his leadership, the combined company became one of the world’s most successful music publishing companies.
 

 SONY/ATV
Jimmy Asci, 212-833-4513
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10
Michael Jackson News / James Murdoch Gives Up Role at British Unit
« on: March 05, 2012, 12:42:36 PM »

February 29, 2012
James Murdoch Gives Up Role at British Unit

By You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login  LONDON —

After months of deeply uncomfortable scrutiny, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login resigned on Wednesday as head of his father’s scandal-ridden newspaper properties in Britain. He said he would now concentrate on the company’s lucrative international television properties, working from the New York headquarters of News Corporation, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login’s global media conglomerate.
       
 The announcement that the younger Mr. Murdoch, 39, had quit as executive chairman of News International, the British newspaper subsidiary of News Corp., came at a moment of intensifying pressure on the Murdoch-owned tabloids at the center of the scandal, The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World. The papers’ reporters, editors and corporate executives, including James Murdoch, have been at the center of overlapping investigations by the police, Parliament and a judicial inquiry into a pattern of widespread phone hacking and payoffs to police and other public officials acting as sources for stories. 
     
 A statement by News Corp. depicted James Murdoch’s transfer to the New York headquarters as a routine step that company insiders say was first ordered by his father 18 months ago. In effect, they said, he had already abandoned his London office for New York. Rather than a punishment, they sought to portray the move as an enlargement of his responsibilities for News Corp.’s international television holdings, a field in which he has won plaudits as profits have soared in the British, European and Asian operations he has overseen for the past decade. 
     
 The announcement said that he would continue as News Corp.’s deputy chief operating officer, and that oversight of the British newspapers would be taken up by Tom Mockridge, chief executive of News International, who would report to News Corp.’s president and chief operating officer, Chase Carey.       
 But the company’s bid to present the changes as a routine reshuffle ran into a wall of skepticism on both sides of the Atlantic, with some critics saying that Rupert Murdoch, who is 80, was trying to protect his son at the expense of News Corp.       

 “Today’s announcement is designed to protect him and give him a fresh start in New York,” said Michael Pryce-Jones, a spokesman for the CtW Investment Group, a shareholder activist group based in Washington that works with pension funds for large labor unions like the Teamsters and United Farm Workers. “Everyone else involved in the scandal has been thrown under the bus, but James Murdoch is being protected.”       
 But other analysts said it was unlikely that James would escape the legal problems no matter where he lives or works.       

 “You could put him in any division, and there’s no way he escapes the implications if he was involved” in hacking and bribery at the British newspapers, said David Bank, a media analyst at RBC Capital Markets.
 Mr. Murdoch’s effort to limit the damage comes at a time when the scandal seems more likely to worsen than to relent. Scotland Yard’s chief investigative officer in the case said Monday that “people at a very senior level within” The Sun had authorized hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to “a network of corrupted officials” in the British police, armed forces and government. 
     
 It was the most serious allegation yet made against the Murdoch papers, and one that appeared virtually certain to presage high-ranking prosecutions.       
 James Murdoch has not been questioned by the police in the scandals, which have seen at least 30 individuals linked to The Sun and News of the World arrested, questioned for up to 10 hours and released on bail. He has denied any role in the wrongdoing, rejecting as false the testimony of high-ranking colleagues in the British newspaper operations that he was told as early as 2008 of widespread phone hacking by News of the World.       
 In the case of one damaging e-mail sent to him in 2008 by Colin Myler, then News of the World’s editor, that contained explosive information about the extent of the phone hacking, Mr. Murdoch has said that he failed to grasp the message’s significance because he did not read all of the e-mail chain that came with it.
       
 The announcement of James Murdoch’s removal from the British newspaper operations came after Rupert Murdoch decided to take temporary charge of the British newspapers himself, according to a News International executive who spoke off the record because of the confidential nature of the discussions that led to the move. The executive said that Mr. Murdoch was “in his element” when personally involved in running the newspapers, and reveling in the start-up You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, Britain’s highest-circulated newspaper, which he oversaw over the weekend. 
     
 Mr. Bank, the media analyst, said that Mr. Murdoch was intent on finding a way to put the scandals in the past. “Rupert Murdoch is trying to change the narrative and move on,” he said. “The further he gets away from the legal issues in the U.K. the more he’ll get his autonomy back.”

 In the News Corp. announcement, Rupert Murdoch emphasized that James Murdoch would be overseeing “essential” properties, especially in the company’s pay-for-view international television operations like Britain’s BSkyB, other Sky franchises across Europe and Star TV in Asia. He also seemed to offer a glancing defense of his son’s role in the tabloid scandals by saying that he had made “lasting contributions” in his “efforts to improve and enhance governance programs” at News International and the TV operations.       

 James Murdoch, too, seemed to claim credit for helping to clear up the British scandals by saying in the company announcement that with the start-up of The Sun on Sunday and “new business practices in place across all titles, News International is now in a strong position to build on its successes in the future.” In addition to The Sun, the Murdoch newspapers in Britain include the up-market Times and Sunday Times.     
   
 But the reaction among many of those who have taken a lead in demanding public accountability for the Murdoch tabloids’ excesses was harsh. John Whittingdale, chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport that twice questioned James Murdoch last year, said in a BBC interview that “even if he wasn’t aware of the details” or scale of the phone hacking, as the younger Murdoch testified, he had become a liability to the company’s operations in Britain.   
     
 “If News International wanted to move on from this problem, and start afresh, James Murdoch’s presence was clearly going to be a problem for them,” he said.       
 Even if not acknowledged as a demotion, the shift of the younger Murdoch and his effective replacement by his father appeared to many of News Corp.’s critics to signal that James Murdoch was no longer considered the likely heir to the throne of News Corp. Until the British scandals erupted, he had held that role, succeeding his older brother, Lachlan, 40, who had a bitter falling out with his father and other executives in 2005, quitting New York to return to an executive job with the company in Australia.       

 Two weeks ago, Rupert Murdoch appeared to signal that Lachlan was back in favor by making a dramatic visit to The Sun newsroom in the East London district of Wapping in the company of Lachlan, with James nowhere in sight.       
 People familiar with the dynamics of the Murdoch family have said in recent months that Elisabeth Murdoch, sister of Lachlan and James, has been urging her father to remove James from all executive authority because of what she has described, often openly at London dinner parties, as James’s incompetence and arrogance in his handling of the tabloid scandals.       

 Along with the reputational damage to News Corp., Murdoch family members are also said by people who know them to be increasingly disturbed by the mounting financial costs of the British scandals, which some media analysts believe could run as high as $1 billion, when compensation and legal costs for the victims are factored in.       

  John F. Burns reported from London and Amy Chozick from New York. Alan Cowell and Julia Werdigier contributed reporting from London, and Ravi Somaiya from Stockholm.
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11

Twitter's Fit for a Prince Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bets $300 Million on Social Media
DECEMBER 20, 2011 By  ELLEN KNICKMEYER and AMIR EFRATIRIYADH

Saudi Arabia—Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has made a $300 million investment in Twitter Inc., expanding his media empire into social-media sites and giving the Saudi billionaire a stake in an online forum that was widely used by activists in this year's Arab uprisings.

The investment was made several months ago when existing Twitter shareholders sold $400 million of shares, according to people familiar with the matter. At the time, Twitter also raised $400 million from a direct investment led by Russia-based DST Global, known for its investments in social media companies including Facebook Inc. The identities of other investors weren't disclosed.

In an emailed statement from Prince Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding Co., Prince Alwaleed stressed both the investment potential and growing clout of the short-messaging social network in announcing the purchase, which he said was part of a drive "to invest in promising, high-growth businesses with a global impact."

San Francisco-based Twitter, whose investors include several venture-capital firms, was valued by analysts in October at about $8.4 billion, suggesting that Prince Alwaleed's stake is equivalent to 3.6% of the company.
Twitter, which allows users to send messages called "tweets" of up to 140 characters each, said recently the network had grown to 100 million active users who cumulatively send 250 million tweets a day. Facebook, by comparison, has more than 750 million users.

Twitter's fledgling online-ad business is expected to generate around $145 million this year, according to research firm eMarketer, as brands such as Starbucks Corp., luxury-brand giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA and others dip their toes into Twitter's ad products, which aims to target ads based on people's personal interests. That revenue figure is up from $45 million last year.

Prince Alwaleed, a nephew of Saudi King Abdullah, was rated by Arabian Business magazine earlier this month as the Arab world's richest businessman, with more than $21 billion in wealth in 2011.

Kingdom Holding officials didn't provide any further details of the purchase early Monday. Matt Graves, a Twitter spokesman, confirmed the investment.

"I see him as an investor happy to invest in any industry that he might think is lucrative at any stage," said Reda Haidar, a media and Internet analyst based in the United Arab Emirates.

Prince Alwaleed has focused his investments on banks, hotels and media companies, building sizable stakes in companies such as Citigroup Inc., News Corp., Apple Inc. and Time Warner Inc. News Corp. owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal. He is also developing a new Arabic-language satellite-news channel with Bloomberg LP.

Many people use Twitter as a kind of new-age radio, getting the latest information about everything from transportation delays and retailing promotions to news about various industries by tracking the Twitter accounts of trusted sources, including news agencies, analysts and companies or their executives.
 
Activists and social-media advocates say Twitter played a strong role in the Arab Spring uprisings this year, helping activists unite, win followers and spread the news of their grievances and demonstrations.
The investment by a Saudi prince in a social-media site that has served as an outlet for Middle East and North Africa dissidents throughout the Arab Spring alarmed some, who feared politically and socially conservative Saudi Arabia might thereby wield a chilling influence on free speech on Twitter.

But Prince Alwaleed's relatively small stake in Twitter isn't likely to have such influence. Twitter Chief Executive Dick Costolo has frequently said the company is "the free speech wing of the free speech party."

 Jamal Khashoggi, the prominent Saudi journalist whom the Saudi prince has picked to run his planned news channel, called fears that the Saudi royal would seek to rein in political expression on Twitter "ridiculous."
"He does separate between his investments and his long-term plans from day-to-day politics," Mr. Khashoggi said. The hope among young Saudis he had talked to was that the purchase would help make Twitter "more accessible to Arabs" by involving an Arab in the ownership.

 —Spencer Ante in New York contributed to this article.
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Who made the other $100 million investment?

12
This deserves a thread on its own - it is even old news already.


 /bravo/

Citigroup Sells EMI in Parts for $4.1 Billion to Vivendi, Sony

November 14, 2011, 4:11 AM EST
By Matthew Campbell, Amy Thomson and Andy Fixmer

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. agreed to sell EMI Group’s recorded music and publishing businesses in separate transactions for a combined $4.1 billion.
     Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group will buy EMI’s record labels, home to Katy Perry and Coldplay, for 1.2 billion pounds ($1.9 billion), and a Sony Corp.-led group that includes billionaire David Geffen will pay $2.2 billion for the publishing unit, according to statements yesterday.
     The breakup of London-based EMI, the 114-year-old music company that owns Abbey Road Studios, sells Beatles albums and publishes songs written by the late Amy Winehouse, ends a nine- month bidding war. Citigroup, the New York-based lender, seized EMI in February after investor Guy Hands fell out of compliance with loan covenants.
     “The two companies coming in to buy the asset know the music industry well; they’re not going to have any false pretenses about what will or won’t happen,” said Ben Rumley, an analyst at Enders Analysis in London. “We might be getting close to the point where the decline, in the recorded side at least, is ending.”
     The auction had a surprise ending, with the two winning bids outstripping rivals who had been in the lead for much of the process.
     Warner Music Group, owned by billionaire Len Blavatnik, offered $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion for EMI’s recorded arm, people with knowledge of the situation said last month. Sony was vying with BMG Rights Management GmbH, the music company controlled by KKR & Co., which had bid $1.8 billion to $2 billion for publishing, people said then.
                         Credit Markets
     Uncertainty in credit markets worked in Sony’s favor, because the private-equity suitors rivals for the publishing business depended on higher debt leverage and could extract fewer cost savings, said Rob Wiesenthal, chief financial officer of the Tokyo’based company’s U.S. unit.
     “It accrued to our advantage,” Wiesenthal said in an interview. “While credit markets fluctuated, we were able to secure soverign entities, which are long-term holders.”
     The Universal transaction values EMI’s recorded-music arm at about seven times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and before synergies, Paris-based Vivendi said in a statement.
     Citigroup, based in New York, agreed to assume liability for employee pensions and any litigation with Hands’ Terra Firma Capital Partners, said two people with knowledge of the talks. Universal Music will assume all risk related to regulatory approval, said the people, who weren’t authorized to talk publicly.
                           Geffen Role
     Vivendi plans to finance the purchase with existing credit lines and a 500 million euro sale of non-core assets of Vivendi and Universal Music, the world’s largest music company.
     “Universal will go from being the largest recorded music company to significantly the largest recorded music company,” Rumley said. “Universal can generate huge economies of scale.”
     The Sony group, including the Mubadala Development Co. sovereign fund of Abu Dhabi, secured financing of more than $500 million from Blackstone Group LP’s GSO unit, people with knowledge of the talks said. Geffen, 68 and based in Los Angeles, made his fortune founding and selling Asylum Records and Geffen Records.
     Sony/ATV Music Publishing, the joint venture formed in 1995 that is co-owned with Michael Jackson’s estate, will oversee the world’s second-biggest music catalogue. Martin Bandier, Sony/ATV’s chairman and CEO since 2007, had previously overseen EMI publishing.
                           Song Value
     “This is the greatest grouping of songs from every decade,” Martin Bandier, chairman and CEO of Sony/ATV, said in an interview. Bandier had previously overseen EMI publishing. “It was a real advantage for us and our investor group to have a sense of the value of these songs and the potential that is yet untapped.”
     Music was the second-biggest contributer of operating income after financial services at Tokyo-based Sony during the fiscal year ended in March.
     The expanding girth of Universal Music and Sony will likely draw the attention of regulators, said Makan Delrahim, a former deputy assistant attorney general for antitrust under President George W. Bush. Sony’s music publishing business may draw more interest, he said.
     “That is a very concentrated industry,” Delrahim said in an interview. “That’s where you’re going to see much more scrutiny.”
                      Opposition in Europe
     Impala, the European trade group that represents independent music companies, said it will oppose the deal.
     The combination of EMI’s record label with Universal will ultimately be good for the industry and musicians, Vivendi Chief Executive Officer Jean-Bernard Levy said.
     “We are very confident that this transaction will be approved by the regulators,” Levy said on a conference call. “We expect to have a very deep and fruitful dialogue with them, and we believe we have very strong arguments.”
     Legal music-streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Inc.’s iTunes have helped record labels blunt the effect of plummeting CD sales, reviving investor interest in the sector.
     Industry wide, sales of record albums, which include digital downloads, compact discs, some vinyl LPs and cassettes, are up 3 percent, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the music industry’s sales tracking system. A total of 255 million albums have been sold in the U.S. so far this year, compared with 247 million this time last year. At this point last year, overall album sales were down 13 percent from the previous year.
                          Digital Sales
     Sean Parker, whose Napster music-sharing service helped destroy music companies’ traditional business models, said this year that labels were “dramatically undervalued” and were poised to make gains as a result of new online applications.
     EMI is the second major music label to change hands this year. Blavatnik acquired New York-based Warner Music in May for about $3.3 billion, including $1.99 billion in debt after a three-month auction.
     Citigroup slashed the value of what it was owed on EMI to 1.2 billion pounds from 3.4 billion pounds after the February takeover.
     Vivendi and Universal Music were advised by Allen & Co. and the law firm SJ Berwin, according to their statement.
     Sony’s group was advised by Joe Ravitch’s Raine Group, Peter J. Solomon Co., UBS Investment Bank and Guggenheim Securities LLC. UBS led the lending group and legal advice was provided by Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP and Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP.
     Citi Global Banking acted as financial adviser to Citigroup and EMI, while Clifford Chance LLP, Shearman & Sterling LLP and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP served as legal advisers.
--With assistance from Patricia Kuo and Katie Linsell in London, Anne-Sylvaine Chassany in Paris, Ragnhild Kjetland in Frankfurt and Jeff Bliss in Washington. Editors: Kenneth Wong, Anthony Palazzo, Donna Alvarado
To contact the reporters on this story: Matthew Campbell in Paris at mcampbell39@bloomberg.net; Amy Thomson in London at athomson6@bloomberg.net; Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net; Anthony Palazzo at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
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13
I am posting this without any consent from Eliza but I thought Eliza's post deserves your attention to an uncomfortable situation that asks for answers. Thank you.
For those who are not familiar with Eliza, there are many threads about her that I will add at the bottom of this post.

Eliza has posted several times on her blog about the health issues of her son.
This is what she wrote today.



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11/2/11   DREW'S HEART - an urgent update    Hello everyone,
 
 As you can see from my last posting here from the Time's article and where I asked for continued prayers for my son - he is one of the millions of uninsured in the US. The only jobs that he has gotten at his age & in this economy (as a waiter); none offer health insurance or full-time hrs. He was discharged from the original hospital after they put him on medication and then considered 'stable'. When he called to arrange the surgery that Monday, he was told that his portion would be 7k. It didn't happen & was impossible. It's been an ongoing fight since then to get him the heart surgery he still needs. Spoke to a wonderful doctor in Los Angeles yesterday. We have a very dear & mutual friend in common. He has agreed to arrange for Drew's surgery if we can get him there. I am beyond grateful. Just sat & cried after hanging up from him yesterday.
 
 Now, I need your help to make this happen. While he will not have to come up with any of the funds for the medical care up-front (as was required by his local hospital after learning he had no medical insurance); the cost of the trip and for him to stay in Los Angeles has to be through donations. No matter if you can only donate $5.00 to help him, it will be so very appreciated. He has to be able to stay in CA long enough to have the initial procedure to stabilize his heart. If that is unsuccessful, they will then have to install a pacemaker. Because all of the testing wasn't done at his local hospital (they didn't have the facilities); we still do not know the extent and what all has to be done re: surgery, treatment, etc. Because of this, we have to allow him to be there for at least 2 weeks.
 
 The PayPal email address to make a donation is: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
 
 As always - please continue with your prayers for him ..
 
 Much love,
 Eliza

-------------

More on Eliza's case:
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etc.

14
They are on the 9th floor again - remember when they had to move to the 9th floor last time?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUvkk9CnSwU&feature=related[/youtube]
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15
Quote
Willow the cat finally found 2,000 MILES from home after travelling from Colorado to New York and going missing for FIVE years
  • Cat went missing from Broomfield, Colorado, in 2006/7
  • She turned up on a street in Manhattan, New York
  • Owners were tracked thanks to microchip inside her
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Last updated at 5:54 PM on 15th September 2011
A cat has made an extraordinary journey of almost 2,000 miles after she went missing from Colorado five years ago and turned up in New York.
Willow disappeared from a home in Broomfield but was found on Wednesday in Manhattan and will soon be reunited with her owners.
Jamie and Chris Squires, of Boulder, Colorado, were ‘shocked’ to hear of her whereabouts, but she had a microchip implanted as a kitten.


Eyes have it: How Willow got to New York, which is more than 1,600 miles away, and the kind of life she lived in the city are both mysteries

The family, who live near the Rocky Mountains, have two of three kids and one of two dogs who may still remember Willow.

But how she got to New York, which is more than 1,600 miles away, and the kind of life she lived in the city are both mysteries.

‘To be honest, there are tons of coyotes around here, and owls,’ Mrs Squires said. ‘She was just a little thing, five and a half pounds.

‘We put out the “Lost Cat” posters and the Craigslist thing, but we actually thought she'd been eaten by coyotes.’


Journey: How Willow made the distance of more than 1,600 miles from Broomfield, Colorado, to Manhattan, New York, is still a mystery


Long trip: Willow disappeared from a home in Colorado, but was found on Wednesday in New York City and will soon be reunited with her owners 

The couple were ‘astounded’ when they got a call from Animal Care & Control in New York City, saying she had been found on East 20th Street.


Mrs Squires added that her husband told her not to tell their children until they were sure it was indeed Willow that had been found.

‘Then we saw the picture, and it was Willow,’ she said. ‘It's been so long.’

Animal Care & Control Executive Director Julie Bank said a scanner found the microchip that led to the Squires family.





‘All our pets are microchipped,’ Mrs Squires said. ‘If I could microchip my kids, I would.’

The children are aged 17, 10 and 3 - so the older two remember Willow. Mrs Squires said her 3-year-old saw a photo and remarked: 'She's a pretty cat.’


The Squires family also have a
yellow labrador named Roscoe, who knew Willow, and an English mastiff named Zoe.

‘We had another dog back then too, and I remember Willow would lie with them as they all waited to be fed,’ she said. 'She thought she was a dog.'




Found: Jamie Squires, right, and Chris Squires, left, were 'shocked' to hear the whereabouts of Willow, who had a microchip implanted when she was a kittenMrs Squires said Willow escaped in late 2006 or early 2007 when contractors left a door open during a home renovation.

Since then the family had moved about 10 miles from Broomfield to Boulder, but kept its address current with the microchip company.

Ms Bank recommended that all pet owners use microchips.

She said Willow, who now weighs 7lbs, is healthy and well-mannered and probably has not spent her life on the mean streets of Manhattan.

But there are no clues about her trip east or anything else in the five years she's been missing.


Looking: Willow stares out from a cage at her temporary home on Wednesday in New York's Animal Care & Control facility, after her very long journey

The ACC and the Squires family were trying to arrange for transportation back to Colorado and health certificates.

They said it might be two weeks before the reunion. Willow may spend some time with a foster family in New York.

‘The kids can't wait to see her,’ Mrs Squires said. ‘And we still have her little Christmas stocking.’
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Quote

But thanks to a microchip implanted when she was a kitten, Willow will be reunited in Colorado with her owners, who had long ago given up hope.
 
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Sep. 15, 2011 4:37 PM ET
No NY claim on cat missing from Colo. for 5 years

 Willow, a 6-year calico cat that went missing from her Colorado home during a renovation 5 years ago, sits in a cage at her temporary home on Sunday, Oct. 3, 2010, in New York's Animal Care and Control (ACC) facility. Willow, found as a stray in Manhattan and brought to ACC, had been tagged with an identification microchip and will soon be  reunited with her owners.   (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)        1 of 5     

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City's animal-shelter agency says a calico cat that disappeared from Colorado five years ago and was found on a Manhattan street had some human care in recent days. But there's no custody fight over it.No one is claiming ownership of Willow besides a family in Boulder, Colo.Willow was found on Wednesday and was linked to the family by an embedded microchip.The animal agency says Willow probably would have been dirty, scabby and flea-ridden if she'd spent much time on the streets. Instead, she's well-fed, and her coat looks good. An animal-welfare official even described her as chunky.The Colorado family plans to get Willow back home once she's cleared for travel.

Associated PressCopyright 2011
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What a propaganda circus to fish for sympathy for the chip.
All news agencies have jumped on this train.
Nothing else worth to be reported, right. Not at this detailed length, right.

AP has been sent to the shelter and took a series of at least 5 (in words: FIVE) photographs of this cat.

The first article I read originates from the NY Times.
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A version of this article appeared in print on September 15, 2011, on page A28 of the New York edition with the headline: Lost 5 Years, a Colorado Cat Finds Her Way to Manhattan. (JIM FITZGERALD is the author, working for Associated Press, mentioned in other publications)

Comments to the various articles across the web indicate that the path is definitely getting paved for meeting exactly the desired result:

"THANKS TO THE CHIP, IT IS USEFUL, IT IS POSITIVE, THANK GOD WE NOW HAVE THE CHIP":



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reading heartwarming stories like this make me so happy.
Quote
lovely story for a change
Quote
I love these happy endings!!!
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She's lucky to be in American, if in SIN she will be treated like a stray cat n put to sleep
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Very Lucky Fellow...!!!!Cheers
Quote
I wonder where she was all this time. WOW!!!!!!!!!! If cats could only talk!
 I am so very happy for the family and Willow.
Quote
how cute!! reminds me of that movie, Homeward Bound or something!
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Only few comments are questioning:

Quote
Ermmmmm ...... ??????
Instead of the owner trace the chip, ..... the chip traced the owner ??????
 Its so much of a "runnaway", most likely "abondoned".
 Guess, instead the ACCNY should investigate the owner
 first before returning the animal (pet).
 Well,weI tried to "trace" our CPF. Where its been ??
 How come not return to us (in FULL) when 55 ??????
Quote
Eh... its a land of freedom right? i think it wants to goes to manhatten, why not let it be...

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