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Time Warner takes stake in Meebo

Meebo, a web-based service that allows multiple and simultaneous instant messaging accounts, has raised $25 million, according to Reuters, to expand the revenue potential of the business, especially in Asia. Investors include Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), Japanese-focused Jafco Ventures and co-investor KTB Ventures, the U.S. arm of Korea's largest private equity shop, KTBnetwork.

This is the third round of funding for Meebo for a total of $37.5 million. The CEO, Seth Sternberg, 29, plans to use the funding to expand into Asia markets and to build a sustainable revenue model. Additionally, he wants to add Meebo chat rooms to Time Warner sites, including People magazine. Recently, Meebo hired Carter Brokaw as its chief revenue officer. He formerly worked at CNET Networks (NASDAQ: CNET)

Meebo has 30 million users per month and includes instant messengers such as Yahoo! Messenger from Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), AOL Instant Messenger, Google Talk from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and ICQ. It was estimated by alleyinsider.com that Meebo is worth $220 million.

Jon Ogg is a producer and editor for the "10 Stocks Under $10" weekly newsletter for 247WallSt.com.

Dexter online finale -- something to die for

I'm definitely looking forward to the "Dexter" finale this weekend. The Showtime Networks series is about a serial killer -- who uses his killing talents to snuff other serial killers.

Yes, it's not a typical show. So, maybe that's why the producers are going to do something creative; that is, they have partnered with Meebo to develop a Web 2.0 experience.

So, Dexter fans can chat -- with AIM, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), MSN and so on -- with executive producers and the talent after the finale.

I had a chance to interview Chase Norlin, who is the CEO of Pixsy (a video search engine), who says:

"This makes perfect sense for Meebo to be in the private label business with instant messaging as the primary application, and certainly seems to be a complement to Showtime Networks' goals. No doubt, video integration into instant messaging applications stands to be a significant trend. Although, in the case of Meebo, I think they will eventually have to offer broader functionality in their private label product in order to win more distribution partners."

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

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Last updated: February 11, 2012: 05:29 AM

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