Big In Japan, the company responsible for the popular ShopSavvy barcode-scanning app for Android and iPhone, has acquired Snappr. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition revives Snappr after it shut down in late 2009, reports TechCrunch, which broke the news of the acquisition. Big in Japan has…

Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) celebrated its 15th birthday this week with cupcakes for reporters, a Collective Soul concert for its staff, and several high-profile media and tech conference appearances for its CEO. But the company also hinted about some things it might buy for itself. At least twice this week, CEO…

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has made its tenth acquisition in eight months, buying up DocVerse, a startup that lets users collaborate on Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Office documents online. The WSJ puts the purchase price at $25 million. DocVerse’s plug-in adds features standard to Google’s own Docs to Office—like real-time editing and…

Atex, which provides software systems to media firms, has purchased a majority stake in classifieds site Kaango. Atex is buying the stake from MediaNews and Hearst Corp., which paid $20 million for 80 percent of Kaango in November 2007. Both companies will retain a minority stake in Kaango, which powers…

Former MySpace (NYSE: NWS) CEO Chris DeWolfe—who left MySpace last April—is back in the social media space via the acquisition of social games portal MindJolt. DeWolfe is partnering with fellow MySpace co-founders Colin Digiaro and Aber Whitcomb, along with VC firm Austin Ventures, to buy the company. He’ll also join…

Playdom, which said it would use some of its recent $43 million funding round for acquisitions, is following through on that pledge. The social gaming company is buying up Offbeat Creations, the developer of several Facebook titles, including dice game Super Farkle, which has more than one million users. Super…

Arkayne, which makes a plug-in designed to automatically add related links to web pages, has raised $1 million in an angel round. The plug-in scans all of the posts on a website in order to automatically suggest related items that a visitor should read. A version for bloggers with “moderate…

PE firm Grant Great Hill Partners, which might be best known for buying (and then selling) IGN, wants to take online dating company Spark Networks private. Great Hill, which bought a minority stake in Spark Networks in late 2005 and now owns about a quarter of the company’s stock, is…

A notable exchange during Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz’s rather rowdy appearance on CNBC’s Power Lunch today. Moderator: “Is Yahoo better off as a trinket on someone else’s charm bracelet?” Bartz: “A trinket? What are you saying? Yahoo isn’t a trinket. Yahoo is the bracelet.” Moderator: “Would you get…

Sony (NYSE: SNE) is buying up the developer of LittleBigPlanet, a top seller on its PlayStation3 and PSP. Sony says in a blog post that the deal to acquire parent Media Molecule will “enhance (its) talent pool, protect past and current investment and ensure a solid base for future investment.”…

Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) has become the sole owner of interactive program guide firm GuideWorks, as Rovi announced Monday that it has exited the joint venture with the operator. Meanwhile, Rovi said it also expanded its relationship with the nation’s largest cable operator to include enhanced entertainment metadata products as well…

Indianapolis e-mail marketing firm ExactTarget, sitting rich on a huge $70 million funding it did mid last year, has made its first move beyond e-mail, so to speak: it has acquired enterprise Twitter client CoTweet, for an undisclosed sum, according to separate notes posted on CoTweet’s and ExactTarget’s company blogs.…

AOL’s 2009 was eventful, to say the least: a new CEO, its spinoff, and a major restructuring and downsizing exercise were among the few of them. And it reflects in the numbers that have come out in its annual 10K report, filed this morning with SEC. —AOL’s restructuring in 2009:…

As expected, Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) has bought the remaining 50 percent stake in personal finance mag SmartMoney from Hearst. The financial terms weren’t disclosed. In addition to the magazine, Dow Jones will own 100 percent of the related website along with the SmartMoney Custom Solutions unit. In a statement,…

Late last year when Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI) finally announced the sale of its UK utility comparison shopping site uSwitch, we knew it was for a lowball price, and we guessed around $50 million, three years after it bought the site for $366 million. Turns out Forward Internet Group,…

Mobclix, a mobile ad network aggregator, has acquired Heartbeat from New York-based Enormego for its ability to analyze the performance of iPhone applications, including sales reporting, statistics and crash reports. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Not only has the mobile ad network acquisitions been heating up, but so…

After having shed its some of it major b2b mags, Nielsen has now sold off some of its smaller business travel and meeting brands to Northstar Travel Media, Folio reported. The sale, terms of which were not disclosed, includes Business Travel News, Successful Meetings, Meeting News, Incentive and online meetings…

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has bought up online photo-editing service Picnik—the latest in its string of recent acquisitions. In a blog post, Picnik says that nothing will change immediately at its popular site and that its staffers will continue to work on Picnik from Google’s offices in Seattle. One obvious result,…

Bit by bit, AOL’s once-ambitious Platform-A (NYSE: AOL) network is de-emphasising refocusing. The latest example - AOL (or should that be “Aol”?) is disposing of Buy.at, the affiliate marketing network it bought two years ago. London-based affiliate marketer Digital Window, which is majority-owned by a JV of Axel Springer and…