Christian video site GodTube has been blessed with a $30 million funding round from hedge fund GLG Partners, according to a report by paidContent.org, valuing the company at a whopping $150 million.

GodTube, billed by the L.A. Times as a “who’s who of U.S. Christianity,” has been racking up the page views with a “holy trinity” of user-generated video, social networking and a live webcasting service known as The Godcaster that allows churches to stream sermons and other events. In the same article, former CBS executive and GodTube CEO Chris Wyatt calls his site “Jesus 2.0″.

As paidContent notes, video startups like Metacafe and Veoh consume huge amounts of expensive bandwidth and so must raise large amounts of money. Nevertheless, it called GLG’s investment “ungodly big.”

Photo: GodTube.com

This is what the morning after looks like for Yahoo: a stock down 20 percent in pre-trading, and investors wondering whether Jerry Yang has a Plan B in his back pocket after Microsoft walked away from one of the strangest pseudo-hostile takeover bids in recent memory. One option is obvious: “It’s time to get a move on with Google,” said Jeffrey Lindsay, analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein. “Let’s hope they weren’t bluffing.”

Deutsche Telekom is looking at a possible purchase of No. 3 U.S. wireless company Sprint Nextel, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Saturday, and is considering options including a merger or an outright takeover. Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA is the fourth-biggest operator; a combination with Sprint would catapult T-Mobile to the number one spot, although Sprint and T-Mobile use incompatible wireless networks.

Warren Buffett said on Sunday that Berkshire Hathaway may be close to buying a medium-sized British company and will look at Royal Bank of Scotland’s insurance unit, Britain’s second-largest general insurer, valued at up to 8 billion pounds ($15.8 billion).

More Deals:

** Malaysia’s top lender, Malayan Banking, has bought a 15 percent stake in Pakistan’s largest listed lender MCB Bank for $680 million, betting on a bright economic future despite its recent political turbulence.

** Kuwait’s Burgan Bank plans to buy 194 million dinars ($727.7 million) in assets from Bahraini lender United Gulf Bank, the two companies said in a statement.

** U.S. property company Colony Capital and French investment group Eurazeo said they planned to raise their stake in hotels and services group Accor to around 30 percent.

** Israel’s Bank Leumi said it agreed to sell 15 percent of cable operator HOT to Internet service provider Netvision for 480 million shekels ($139 million).

** The European Commission said it had suspended its review of plans by Austrian oil and gas group OMV to take over Hungarian peer MOL.

** British market research firm Taylor Nelson Sofres has rejected an unsolicited proposal from advertising group WPP to buy it for 950 million pounds ($1.87 billion), it said on its website.

EBay’s lawsuit against Craigslist alleges that founder Craig Newmark and CEO Jim Buckmaster tried to dilute eBay’s 28.4 percent stake in the company after a marriage proposal. According to court papers unsealed Wednesday, Craigslist wanted out of the relationship since eBay had launched a competing product, Kijiji, but Meg Whitman countered with a bid to buy the entire company, leading to the allegedly “clandestine” meetings between Newmark and CEO Jim Buckmaster. At stake is the world’s third most valuable Web startup, as ranked by Silicon Alley Insider, valued at approximately $5 billion.

Microsoft’s board met on Wednesday to discuss its stand-off with Yahoo, but don’t get too excited: they failed to reach a decision on what to do next, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The board is still weighing whether to adopt a hostile approach and nominate a proxy slate of directors to replace Yahoo’s board, sweeten its cash-and-stock offer for Yahoo, or possibly walk away from the deal. A Microsoft-imposed “deadline” passed last Saturday.

Three-headed canine guardian of the gates of Hell, meet controversial private security contractor Blackwater. Cerberus Capital Management is in talks to invest $200 million for a stake in Blackwater USA, ABC News reported on Wednesday, citing sources. Or, not. The Wall Street Journal confirmed that Blackwater is seeking outside investment, but quotes a Cerberus spokesman as saying the private equity firm took a look but decided to pass. As the WSJ’s Deal Journal notes, the “secretive, billionaire, former paratrooper [Cerberus’ Steve Feinberg] trains his largesse on a secretive, lucrative quasi-military operations company” story was just too good to be true.

** British software company Micro Focus International Plc said it was to buy U.S. peer NetManage Inc for an agreed $73.3 million, or $7.20 per share.

** Britain’s Hornby Plc has agreed to buy model car maker Corgi for 8.3 million pounds ($16.5 million) to add to its stable of iconic toy brands, which include Scalextric racing cars, Airfix model planes and its eponymous train sets.

** Turkey’s leading mobile phone operator Turkcell is in talks to buy 80 percent of Belarussian Telecommunication Network (Best), a Turkcell official told Reuters.

** Japanese staffing service firm United Technology Holdings Co Ltd said it had abandoned plans for a capital and business tie-up with bigger rival Goodwill Group Inc.

Every day we hit the refresh button, full of hope that billionaire investor Carl Icahn’s blog will finally arrive despite long odds and uncooperative lawyers. Looks like we’re almost there.

Icahn told Reuters on Wednesday that The Icahn Report is finally going live — “in a week or two” — with its founder’s famously strong opinions about corporate governance and the individual companies that fail to live up to his standards.

“I think the time has finally come when people are starting to focus on the many abuses in a number of companies in corporate America and the damage they do,” the 71-year-old financier and hedge fund operator said.

The blog will arrive in the wake of Icahn’s successful, highly publicized demands for change in companies including Motorola Inc and Time Warner Inc , both of which ultimately gave in to his demands that they change leadership and spin off major divisions. He also was instrumental in clearing roadblocks in Oracle Corp’s $8.5 billion bid to acquire BEA Systems.

Not all of Icahn’s investments work out, however, notably real estate developer WCI Communities Inc , whose shares have collapsed over the past year as the high-end condominium market dried up. Icahn is WCI’s largest shareholder, with 4.8 million shares, according to regulatory filings.

Icahn, whose net worth is estimated at $14.5 billion by Forbes, dismissed the lackluster performance in some stock plays, saying investors need to be patient.

He pointed out that he bought the Stratosphere Casino and other Las Vegas properties a decade ago for around $300 million. Last week, he closed on a deal to sell them to real estate funds managed by Goldman Sachs for $1.3 billion, a $1 billion gain.

(Reporting by Dane Hamilton)

The other shoe — or is it an ax — is finally dropping for staff at Bear Stearns, with letters going out this week telling them whether they’ll keep their jobs when JPMorgan’s acquisition is complete.

One Bear employee who works in the emerging markets business in London has received confirmation he will be laid off, he told Reuters on Wednesday. Another in the same department said he was expecting to hear later in the day that he would be retained.

“Some individuals and some businesses are beginning to hear what their status is,” added a source close to the bank.

A third London-based staffer who does not work on a trading desk, but on the business side said: “I’m waiting for my letter from JPMorgan to see about a job offer. I’ve been told verbally there is a job for me, which is a great relief.”

The total number of layoffs is not yet known, but more than half of Bear Stearns employees are expected to lose their jobs. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has declined approximately one thousand times to give details.

Not that it will come as much consolation to axed Bear Stearns employees, but executives including co-head of fixed-income Jeffrey Mayer, co-heads of equities Steven Meyer and Bruce Lisman, and former CEO Ace Greenberg are known to have survived the purge. CEO Alan Schwartz, CFO Sam Molinaro, controller Jeffrey Farber and general counsel Michael Solender may also eventually accept employment with the bank, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The New York Times reported over the weekend that Ace Greenberg, who started as a Bear Stearns clerk in 1949, is gifting $360,000 to 25 longtime mailroom and clerical employees — $200 a month over six years. Greenberg “has sold over $30 million in Bear stock since early 2007,” the Times reported.

Photo: A man holds a battle ax during three-day Highland Games Festival in Fehraltdorf near Zurich, REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Citigroup’s $3 billion $4.5 billion stock offering didn’t exactly dazzle one of its most well-known critics, as Oppenheimer analyst Meredith Whitney said the company will need to raise an additional $10 billion to $15 billion or sell assets worth billions to truly shore up its capital position. “The fact that Citi raised capital at this time did not come as a surprise to us, but the fact that the company raised such a small amount of capital at this time confounds us,” said Whitney, who correctly predicted last year that the company would have to cut its dividend.

Time Warner is kissing its majority-owned cable division goodbye, part of CEO Jeffrey Bewkes’s attempt to revamp the company and lift its sluggish stock price. Details on how the transaction will be structured were scarce, but analysts have speculated that the separately listed unit could be spun off to shareholders.

UK gas producer BG Group has made a $12 billion bid approach to Origin Energy, seeking to bolster its position in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific gas market by securing the Australian utility’s gas reserves. The companies said BG, valued at around $85 billion, had approached Origin with a proposal of A$14.70 per share in cash — a 40 percent premium to Origin’s close of A$10.47 on Tuesday.

* Huaneng Power, China’s largest independent electricity provider, said it will buy Singapore’s Tuas Power from its parent China Huaneng Group in a deal worth about $3 billion.

** Carmaker Daimler is buying a 22.3 percent stake in heavy diesel engine maker Tognum from Swedish investment group EQT for around 585 million euros ($911.2 million), Daimler said.

** Malaysian state investment arm Khazanah Nasional Bhd will buy a stake of 16.41 percent in Singapore healthcare service provider Parkway Holdings Ltd for S$531.51 million ($389.5 million), Khazanah said.

** Indian drugmaker Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd said it had agreed to acquire BASF’s drug contract manufacturing business and a related facility in the United States for an undisclosed amount.

** Philippine National Bank (PNB) and Allied Banking Corp, both owned by tycoon Lucio Tan, announced a long-awaited merger, and said the new entity would the fourth-largest bank in the country.

** Thailand’s Siam Cement Group PCL (SCC) said it planned to buy outstanding shares of Thai Cane Paper from minority shareholders at 16.0 baht each ($0.504) and would delist the paper firm.

** Daimler AG has reached a preliminary agreement to set up a truck-making joint venture with Beiqi Foton Motor Co in China, the Chinese company said.

** SMR, the mining unit of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s Basic Element company, has pulled out of negotiations with the Serbian government about the sale of copper miner RTB Bor, the company said.

Cox Enterprises, the parent company of Cox Newspapers and cable company Cox Communications, is buying online advertising firm Adify for at least $300 million — not a bad multiple on revenues of $7 million in 2007 and an expected $35 million this year, according to paidContent.org.

“By any standards, it is a very rich deal,” paidContent’s Rafat Ali wrote. Adify creates custom online ad platforms for customers like the Guardian and Forbes. Reuters announced a deal with Adify in January to create an ad-supported network of small- to medium-sized publishers in areas like personal finance and football.

peHUB’s Dan Primack notes that it’s a “big day for Adify backer US Venture Partners, whose latest fundraising drive has been met with lukewarm enthusiasm.” Venture capital backers, which also included Venrock, NBC’s Peacock Equity fund and Time Warner, had invested about $27 million in Adify.

The convoluted history of attempted deals in the candy industry are enough to make an Oompa-Loompa’s head spin, but Mars’ $23 billion takeover of Wrigley may force rivals to reassess their options for consolidation, Bill Wrigley Jr said on Monday.

(The deal also proved that Warren Buffett “chews gum and identifies value at the same time,” as the FT’s Alphaville blog noted.)

“There have been lots of rumors in the confectionary space over the past few years, and very recently, and no one can say exactly what’s going to happen … but I think it’s likely that we’ll see more consolidation,” Wrigley said on a conference call. “The folks at Hershey, the folks at Cadbury, the folks maybe at Nestle have to think about what they want to do in this space and will evaluate their opportunities.”

The deal between Mars, the world’s biggest chocolate maker, and Wrigley, the biggest gum maker, will push Cadbury off the world’s top spot in confectionery just as the London-based group is planning a demerger of its soft drinks business. Analysts predicted that the Mars-Wrigley deal will prompt Cadbury to re-start talks with the U.S.’s biggest chocolate maker Hershey Co.

Previously in the candy wars, Nestle — which, by the way, owns the Willy Wonka candy brand — combined with Cadbury for a bid for Hershey. Wrigley also made a run. The controlling Hershey Trust pushed for a sale, only to pull back later after pressure from community groups at its headquarters in Pennsylvania.

And finally, if Cadbury cannot hammer out a Hershey deal, it might face a bid itself from the likes of Kraft Foods Inc as North America’s biggest food group could be interested in expanding its European Suchard chocolate unit.

Representatives of the Lollypop Guild were not immediately available for comment.

Further reading:

Mars and Buffett to buy Wrigley for $23 billion

Cadbury eyes Hershey as Mars chews up Wrigley

Photo: Yahoo Movies/Warner Home Video

When Rupert Murdoch is poised to add another newspaper to his bulging portfolio of media properties, U.S. legislators voice their concern. In Italy, where prime minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi is poised to regain his hammer grip on the country’s airwaves, it’s time for V-Day.

The V in V-Day — sensitive readers who know Italian, shield your eyes — stands for “Vaffanculo,” which roughly translates to “F&$@ off.” The event was created by comedian/activist/blogger Beppe Grillo (left), aptly described by the New Yorker as “a distinctly Italian combination of Michael Moore and Stephen Colbert.”

In a rant before a crowd of 45,000 that lambasted politicians of all leanings, Grillo said on Friday that Berlusconi’s dominance of the media would be unthinkable in other countries. Critics say Berlusconi as prime minister — through his family-controlled Mediaset empire and through state television RAI — will at least indirectly control nearly 90 percent of Italy’s television audience.

“Imagine if (Barack) Obama as president was also the owner of Fox, of ABC and other TV networks,” he said. It was the second “V-day” for Grillo, who first launched the protest last September when he gathered petitions that sought to clean up politics.

He reiterated calls to bar convicts from entering public office, and read the names out loud of a handful convicted criminals who were elected to parliament. After each name, the crowd thundered back “Vaffanculo!”

(Reporting by Phil Stewart)

Steve Ballmer has been leading reporters on a globe-trotting chase as he tries to keep the pressure on Yahoo ahead of the Saturday deadline he imposed earlier this month. The results? A lot of column inches filed from obscure datelines like Skhirat, Morocco, San Donato Milanese, Italy and Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, along with a clarification about which of Ballmer's Facebook entries is real. (Answer: the one with the golfclub)

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