SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc is buying the Frommer’s line of travel guidebooks, the latest move to amass a trove of publishing content that could strengthen the No. 1 Internet search company’s push to become a major online travel broker.

The sale by John Wiley & Sons Inc (JWa.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) comes nearly a year after Google’s $151 million purchase of Zagat Survey, which offers reviews of restaurants, hotels and nightclubs in cities around the world.

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 2 (Reuters) – If the millions of
Olympics-related tweets flooding the Internet in recent days are
a measure of Twitter’s popular appeal, the company’s big
presence in London also signals something else: its arrival as a
major player in the world of big-time brand advertising.

In sharp contrast to Google, which initially built
its businesses mostly by persuading thousands of small companies
to buy “direct response” ads, Twitter’s emerging strategy
focuses on selling elaborate brand campaigns to major marketers
such as Procter & Gamble Co and Verizon Communications
.

By Gerry Shih

(Reuters) – Embattled Zynga Inc has shuffled its top management following a calamitous second quarter that left its stock in the gutter and spurred shareholder lawsuits.

The game publisher said Chief Operating Officer John Schappert will no longer oversee game development. Those responsibilities have been shifted to Chief Mobile Officer David Ko and Executive Vice President of Games Steve Chiang, who will now report directly to Chief Executive Mark Pincus, the company said in a statement.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Zynga Inc was hit by a pair of lawsuits from shareholders accusing the “FarmVille” creator of failing to warn about declines in user and revenue growth before disastrous results sent its shares into a tailspin last week.

Two California law firms filed lawsuits seeking class-action status on behalf of stockholders this week, taking the company to task for allegedly concealing threats to its business and sales growth, such as Facebook platform changes that made it easier for users to find rival games.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc’s shares slid 6.2 percent to another record low on Tuesday, diving for the third straight day since lackluster results showed decelerating user growth and revived doubts about its ability to sustain its rich valuation.

A sobering report from Bernstein Research, combined with online chatter about the potential proliferation of automated Facebook accounts and a looming sell-off of employee shares next month all conspired to rock the stock, analysts say.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Twitter Inc reinstated a British journalist’s account on Tuesday after an outcry over his suspension for posting an NBC-Universal executive’s email address on the service threatened to tarnish the company’s reputation.

Twitter banned Guy Adams, a Los Angeles correspondent for The Independent newspaper, on Monday after he tweeted the work email address of NBC’s Olympics division president Gary Zenkel.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Private equity firm General Atlantic LLC said on Tuesday it has invested $100 million in Box, the fast-growing cloud storage start-up seen as a likely candidate for an initial public offering.

The investment – the third funding round by Box in the last 18 months – valued the company at $1.2 to $1.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said. All told, the latest funding round totaled $125 million, with some of Box’s existing backers joining General Atlantic.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc’s shares dived 6 percent to another record low on Tuesday, sliding for the third straight day since a lackluster quarterly report showed decelerating user growth.

Investors have punished the stock of the No. 1 social network and other consumer-focused Internet companies such as Zynga Inc, questioning their ability to sustain growth and maintain lofty valuations. Last week, Facebook reported results but offered no outlook or forecast for the year, spooking investors who sought reassurance about growth in 2012.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 31 (Reuters) – Private equity firm
General Atlantic LLC has invested $125 million in Box, the
fast-growing cloud storage start-up seen as a likely candidate
for an initial public offering.

The investment – the third funding round by Box in the last
18 months – valued the company at between $1.2 and $1.5 billion,
people familiar with the matter said.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Twitter Inc and NBC Universal’s move to suppress a British reporter’s tweets related to the network’s Olympics coverage may have backfired after the incident became fodder for Twitter chatter around the world on Monday.

The microblogging service suspended Guy Adams, the Los Angeles correspondent for London-based daily The Independent, after he sent a tweet on Friday revealing NBC Olympics President Gary Zenkel’s email address.