Trulia to buy Market Leader for $355 million, planting stake in Zillow’s backyard

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Trulia is making its biggest bet yet. And it is doing so in Zillow’s backyard. Today, Trulia announced a plan to purchase Kirkland-based Market Leader for $355 million — an 18 percent premium over Market Leader’s stock close on Tuesday. The deal also values Market Leader — originally founded in 1999 as HouseValues.com — at about… Read More…

All Property Management makes a buy, inks deal for Rental Property Reporter

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Zillow has been gobbling up companies with a ferocious appetite in the past few months. But today we’re telling you about another acquisition in the online real estate arena, and this one has nothing to do with Zillow. Seattle’s All Property Management today is announcing that it has acquired Rental Property Reporter, described as the oldest… Read More…

Memo: Clearwire board urges shareholders to accept Sprint deal

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It’s been a long and winding road for Clearwire, the Bellevue mobile broadband company which has been weighing competing offers from Sprint and Dish Network. But after months of deliberation, the board of directors today is recommending that shareholders go forward with Sprint’s $2.2 billion offer. Some investors have argued that Sprint’s bid is too… Read More…

T-Mobile completes MetroPCS buy, begins trading on NYSE

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T-Mobile is on Wall Street today, celebrating its merger with MetroPCS and ringing the bell on The New York Stock Exchange as the country’s fourth largest wireless carrier begins a new era. The Bellevue company, which boasts 43 million customers, will trade under the new ticker symbol TMUS. “The combination of T-Mobile and MetroPCS creates… Read More…

Sprint gets waiver from Softbank to weigh Dish’s $25.5B bid

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Two weeks after Dish Network jumped into the bidding for Sprint with a $25.5 billion offer, the wireless carrier has formed a special committee and received a waiver from SoftBank to consider the deal. (You may recall that SoftBank bid $20.1 billion for Sprint earlier this year). “The waiver will permit Sprint and its representatives,… Read More…

Deal site Tippr bought by nCrowd

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Updated at 7:40 a.m. with comments from Tippr CEO Martin Tobias. Tippr, the heavily-funded Seattle daily deals platform, has been acquired in a deal of undisclosed size by Atlanta’s nCrowd. Kara Swisher at All Things D reports that the acquisition comes amid a “tough environment” for daily deal sites, including larger rivals such as Groupon… Read More…

GreenCupboards buys assets of Ecomom after founder’s suicide

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GreenCupboards, a Spokane startup led by 27-year-old entrepreneur Josh Neblett, has changed its name to Etailz and acquired the assets of Ecomom. Etailz, which sells more than 25,000 environmentally-friendly products, including beauty, home and office products, declined to disclose the size of the purchase. It plans to relaunch Ecomom later this year. The acquisition follows the… Read More…

Startup valuations rise even as VCs don’t get as many exits

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Valuations at startup companies continue to increase, even though venture capitalists aren’t cashing out on deals as frequently as they’d like. According to a new report out this week from PitchBook, valuations in angel/seed, early stage and late stage all increased versus 2011 levels. Meanwhile, deal flow declined and the number of venture-backed companies completing IPOs… Read More…

Report: Amazon.com buys Evi, the voice recognition app that rivals Apple’s Siri

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Well, this could get really interesting. TechCrunch is reporting today, citing unidentified sources, that Amazon.com paid $26 million last year to buy UK-based voice recognition app Evi. Best known as a rival to Apple’s Siri, the move, if confirmed, could add even more fuel to the fire that Amazon.com is working on a new smartphone. (Voice… Read More…