Highlights: Last week on Philly Tech News (2/6/2012 to 2/12/2012)

Questions were raised about how open Philadelphia Media Network's bidding process is after groups represented by developer Bart Blatstein and members of the Perelman family claimed they were being shut out of it. PMN (non-editorial) spokesman Mark Block actually requested that two stories about Blatstein's interest be taken down, and they were. Blatstein, who purchased the Inky building last year, threatened to start a competing paper and website. It was unclear what other bids may have been received other than one from an Ed Rendell-led group.

Oracle announced a $1.9 billion acquisition of cloud talent management vendor Taleo; some saw it as a direct response to SAP's pending SuccessFactors deal, while others wondered whether it might have had more to do with the rising competitive threat from Workday.

Newtown-based systems development outsourcer EPAM Systems, Inc. completed its IPO last week after cutting back on its offering price and size; it currently trades at $13.65 up from the initial offering price of $12, and has a market cap of $555 million.

Questions were raised concerning Fisker Automotive's viability as it faced a cash crunch when the Feds held up the balance of a $529 million loan pending a review. Fisker laid off 26 employees in Delaware and halted
subcontracting work there. The Wilmington News Journal has provided excellent ongoing coverage of Fisker's troubles.

Two Philly area companies made fairly small but potentially important acquisitions. Amazon Prime competitor ShopRunner, part of Michael Rubin's holding company, acquired California-based startup Shopsanity, which helps ecommerce shoppers keep track of data about their various purchases. And Wayne-based Kenexa agreed to acquire OutStart, a Boston-based provider of SaaS e-Learning solutions, for $38.9 million.

Bob Moul, former GM of Dell Boomi and current President of Philly Startup Leaders, got back on the entrepreneurial side by becoming chairman & CEO of Philly-based appRenaissance, a mobile app development startup.

And I wrote about a new book by Joseph Turow of Penn's Annenberg School, "The Daily You", which raises issues about how all the data being collected on us through our online activities is being used.



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