Cord-cutting has yet to hit the mainstream, but one service is beefing up its offering in an attempt to make it more of a reality. The connected TV provider Boxee—which lets users watch TV programs, films and other content from the internet on their TV sets—is today announcing that it…

Update: Clear Channel announced that it is the media company buying the cloud-based music subscription service Thumbplay Music—a deal that was first reported by mocoNews.net. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but our source says it is likely to be less than 10 percent of the company’s…

OMGPOP, which began as a multiplayer game developer on the web but has since expanded into mobile and Facebook, has raised $10.1 million in a second round of funding. OMGPOP is behind Cupcake Corner, a Facebook title with more than 1.6 million monthly active users. Its other popular titles include…

Zynga is confirming this evening that it has indeed raised $150 million in funding from Japanese internet and telecom firm Softbank. Reports that the social gaming giant had raised the cash first surfaced several months ago, although Zynga would not comment then.

According to separate reports from Nikkei, Bloomberg and *Reuters*, gaming-company-on-a-tear Zynga has raised a huge $147 million round from Softbank, for expansion into Asia. This deal has been in the works for a few months, with initial talks centered around Softbank, one of the largest telecom operators in Japan, being…

BuzzFeed, the self-proclaimed tracker of the “web’s obsessions,” has raised $8 million in its second round of funding. The site’s home page features a feed of popular photos, videos and lists recommended by visitors as well as its own editors; members can also contribute their own content in hopes it…

Buzzfeed, a NY-based trend-tracking site has raised a $3.5 million led by Hearst Interactive Media and Softbank, reports CNET. The site, which was co-founded in 2006 by HuffPo co-founder Jonah Peretti, combines elements of aggregators like Digg or Techmeme, but with a much more Gawker sensibility—it focuses heavily on the…

Alibaba.com and Softbank today announced formation of a joint venture company called Alibaba.com Japan. The total investment will be $20 million with Softbank accounting for 65 percent of the investment and Alibaba with the rest at 35 percent. The new company will take over the operation of Alibaba.com’s existing Japanese-language…

Video game vertical ad net GiantRealm has raised $2 million from Softbank for a total first round of $5.5 million, the company says. This latest infusion comes about two months after GiantRealm raised $3.5 million from *Comcast* Interactive Capital with an assist from seed funding participant Edison Venture Fund. The…

The Japanese teleco and online firm Softbank has bought about 14 percent of Chinese online holding firm Oak Pacific Interactive (OPI), with the intent of increasing the stake to 40 percent by 2011. For the 14 percent stake, it paid about $96 million…from the increase in stake, it would pay…

South Korea’s dominant fixed-line and broadband operator Korea Telecom and Japanese telecom and internet group Softbank have partnered together to launch a $40 million investment fund aimed at delivering internet protocol TV (IPTV) content, reports Variety Asia Online. The two firms will invest Korean Won 20.5 billion ($20 million) each…