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Posts with tag PerezHilton

Perez Hilton hits the airwaves -- good move!

The indefatigable Perez Hilton has built a bigger career out of blogging than anyone else I can think of. Starting as just a regular guy blogging about celebrities from his bedroom, Mr. Hilton -- whose real name is Mario Lavandeira --has turned PerezHilton.com into the 752nd most visited website in the world, according to Alexa. And he's done it with semi-literate commentary on celebrity gossip, writing words like "busted" and drawing "<3s" on photos of stars. I say this, by the way, as a huge fan of his site. Then he parlayed that into a show on VH1 and now, he'll be hitting the airwaves with a twice-daily, three-minute celebrity update, launching in major markets soon.

This is perfect. Perez Hilton would likely be overexposed with a full radio show -- he just isn't that talented. But he'll be funny for about three minutes, driving tremendous traffic to his site.

According (subscription required) to the Wall Street Journal, "Mr. Lavandeira said he draws inspiration from other celebrities who carefully cultivate public images and business deals, such as Paris Hilton."

Given all the traffic he generates, I wonder how much one of the big media companies would pay for his site. Alternatively, I would absolutely kill to see a Perez Hilton IPO.

Britney Spears hospitalization sends Starbucks shares tumbling

Renowned equity analyst Perez Hilton has apparently discovered the real reason investors sold off shares of Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) today. No, it has nothing to do with the weak jobs report, as you may have been thinking.

Maybe its because Wall Street traders are worried about how Britney Spears' hospitalization will will effect sales. The former teen princess is nearly always seen with a latte in hand and, unless Starbucks delivers to the hospital, sales in the LA area could plummet!

But there may be a contrarian play on this news: Starbucks locations in the LA area are less likely to be overrun by Spears and her posse, driving away other customers, and efficiency and sales per square foot could soar!

And the company will have to pay lower insurance premiums because the risk of baristas being attacked with umbrellas is significantly lowered by Ms. Spears' hospitalization.

CBS blows $10 million on celebrity gossip site Dotspotter

Dotspotter logo CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) has acquired the celebrity gossip site Dotspotter.com for about $10 million, according to paidContent.

The acquisition, which Sumner Redstone probably paid for out of petty cash, is surprising. First, the site is only 10 months old. Second, as paidContent's Rafat Ali points out, there is no shortage of celebrity news sites, including Time Warner (NYSE: TWX)'s TMZ.com and Showbuzz a site that CBS launched last year that hasn't exactly burned up the charts.

CBS already is knee-deep in the celebrity news business, producing Entertainment Tonight and The Insider, so the acquisition does make some sense. Maybe the New York-based media company hopes to capture some of the page views that are heading the way of TMZ and Perez Hilton. Dotspotter has some interesting features, including allowing people to vote on whether they like the story about LIndsay Lohan's new boyfriend.

But for the site to be successful, it won't have to reinvent the wheel, just make it more interesting. In today's celebrity-saturated media environment that will be hard.

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DJIA-42.1811,342.03
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S&P 500-2.071,271.63

Last updated: July 09, 2008: 10:01 AM

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