Press Releases

SAN FRANCISCO and NEW YORK, July 19 /PRNewswire/ -- In the second quarter of 2008, quarterly venture capital investment in U.S. companies slipped below the $7 billion mark for the first time in 18 months. According to the Quarterly U.S. Venture Capital Report released today by Dow Jones VentureSource (www.venturecapital.dowjones.com), investment fell 12% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year with $6.64 billion put into 602 deals, the lowest quarterly deal count since 2005. The $7.58 billion invested in second quarter of 2007 was the second-highest quarterly totals recorded since the end of the dot-com boom in 2001.

"While the U.S. investment total is down compared to last year's impressive second quarter, we still saw steady deal activity and investment in the first half of the year, which is encouraging," said Jessica Canning, Director of Global Research for Dow Jones VentureSource. "Venture capitalists commonly take the long-view when it comes to investing. While IPOs and acquisitions may be rare now, VCs aren't concerned about that. They're focusing on what's next -- and that's reflected in the healthy early stage investment we're seeing in areas like renewable energy, information services and business support services."

Both IT & Health Care Decline

According to the report, the information technology (IT) industry saw deal flow drop 27% from 390 deals in the second quarter last year to 286 in the most recent quarter -- the lowest deal count since the first quarter of 1997. Similarly, investments were down 26% from nearly $3.50 billion to $2.60 billion, the lowest quarterly investment total since 2003. The information services sector, which includes the majority of today's "Web 2.0" companies, was the only area within IT to see positive gains with $688 million invested in 80 deals, a 20% increase over the $572 million invested in 94 deals during the same period last year.

Health care companies also fared poorly in the second quarter with the industry only seeing 149 deals completed and $1.98 billion invested. That is 22% less than the $2.53 billion that was invested in 181 health care deals in the second quarter of 2007.

"The health care industry is the most concerning at the moment, as investment is down 31% compared to the first six months of last year and deal flow is at its lowest level in three years," said Ms. Canning. "Considering the amount of time and capital it takes VCs to build a successful life science company, there may be a hesitation to continue investing in these companies given our current IPO market conditions."

The data showed that the majority of the health care industry's investment decline in the second quarter was contained in the medical devices sector, which saw just 60 deals completed and $798 million invested, a 25% drop-off from the $1.06 billion invested in 72 deals during the same time last year.

Energy & Utilities Shine as Focus Shifts to Cleantech

One bright spot highlighted by the data was the energy and utilities industry, which posted a record quarter with $817 million invested in 32 deals, up 160% over the $314 million put into 23 deals in the second quarter of 2007. Most notably, there was a big surge in renewable energy investments as the sector saw $650 million put into 26 deals, records on both accounts.

"The movement of venture dollars from the traditional areas of information technology and health care toward burgeoning sectors like renewable energy, power management, and agriculture -- or 'clean technology' areas -- proves that venture capitalists are making good on their promise to tap opportunities in the massive energy market," said Ms. Canning.

According to the report, the top three venture capital deals in the second quarter all belonged to solar energy companies. Taking the top spot was SunEdison of Beltsville, Maryland, which raised $131 million (as well as an additional $30 million in separate debt financing) in its second round. eSolar of Pasadena, Calif., garnered $130 million and BrightSource Energy of Oakland raised $115 million.

Compared to the second quarter of 2007, the smaller business and financial services (up 6% to $771 million) and industrial goods and materials industries (up 14% to $150 million) both posted modest gains while the consumer goods industry saw investment drop 24% to $121 million.

Later, Larger Deals Dominate But Early Stage Investment Continues

The quarterly report also confirmed that later-stage deals continue to attract the lion's share of venture capital with $3.48 billion, or roughly 54% of the quarter's investment total, put into 225 rounds. This pushed the median deal size of a later-stage round to a record $12 million in the first six months of 2008.

Early stage deal-making did not take a back seat, however. In fact, the number of first rounds actually ticked up from 200 rounds completed in the first quarter of the year to 207 in the most recent quarter while the later-stage deal count saw a corresponding dip.

"The most encouraging part of this quarter's report is that early stage investing is holding relatively steady thus far in 2008," added Ms. Canning. "It may be harder for entrepreneurial companies to raise venture capital these days but it's by no means impossible. Continued early stage deal flow is a good sign that the venture industry is prepared to weather the economic downturn and will continue to back the next wave of disruptive technologies."

According to the data, the median deal size of a first round was $5 million in the first half of 2008, an annual figure that has remained unchanged since 2004.

The overall median size of a venture capital deal in the U.S. -- including all stages of development -- climbed to $7.5 million in the first half of 2008, the highest total on record.

Regional Perspectives

California once again dominated the venture capital activity in the second quarter, representing 45% of the nation's deal flow with 273 deals completed and nearly 51% of the capital invested with $3.36 billion. By major region, the report showed:

-- The San Francisco Bay Area saw a 9% decline in overall venture investment with $2.17 billion invested in 193 deals as IT investment was off nearly 21%.

-- Despite seeing investment slip 2% to $868 million in 67 deals, Southern California remained the second most popular region for venture investment, beating out New England, which saw investment drop nearly 23% to $714 million in 76 deals.

-- The New York Metro region attracted $350 million in 42 completed deals, 16% less than the $415 million invested in the second quarter last year.

-- The Potomac region was one of the two major regions to see a capital increase as investment ticked up 11% to $268 million in 19 deals.

-- Investment in the Washington State climbed 4% to $275 million invested in 25 deals.

-- Capital investment in the Research Triangle region dropped 4% to $118 million with 10 deals closed in the quarter.

-- Texas saw investment drop 65% to a paltry $90 million invested in 13 deals, the region's lowest quarterly investment total in at least six years.

For more information about Dow Jones VentureSource or to arrange a personal demonstration, visit www.venturecapital.dowjones.com or call 866-291-1800.

The investment figures included in this release are based on aggregate findings of Dow Jones proprietary U.S. research and are contained in VentureSource. This data was collected by surveying professional venture capital firms, through in-depth interviews with company CEOs and CFOs, and from secondary sources. These venture capital statistics are for equity investments into early stage, innovative companies and do not include companies receiving funding solely from corporate, individual, and/or government investors. No statement herein is to be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell securities or to provide investment advice.

ABOUT DOW JONES

Dow Jones & Company (www.dowjones.com) is a subsidiary of News Corporation (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A; ASX: NWS, NWSLV; www.newscorp.com). Dow Jones is a leading provider of global business news and information services. Its Consumer Media Group publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch and the Far Eastern Economic Review. Its Enterprise Media Group includes Dow Jones Newswires, Factiva, Dow Jones Client Solutions, Dow Jones Indexes and Dow Jones Financial Information Services. Its Local Media Group operates community-based information franchises. Dow Jones owns 50% of SmartMoney and 33% of Stoxx Ltd. and provides news content radio stations in the U.S.

SOURCE Dow Jones & Company

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Options Cocktail, ONN.tv's entertaining weekly recap of the options market, is hosted by Whiz Buckley and Jud Pyle and was filmed today on location at the world famous Ceres Bar and Restaurant in the Chicago Board of Trade. Stacey Riddell, portfolio manager of PEAK6 Asset Management, was the guest. View the show at www.onn.tv at http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1488654888/ bctid1676042872. (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)

Serving a rapidly growing segment of the investment community, The Options News Network provides daily options news and entertainment, options education, options trading ideas, and expert commentary on the options market, targeting options traders of all skill and experience levels as well as stock investors thinking about options.

Source: The Options News Network

LOS ANGELES, July 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Three-time Emmy(R) Award winner Edie Falco is coming to a New York City hospital for SHOWTIME's new half-hour single camera dark comedy series NURSE JACKIE (working title), it was jointly announced today by Robert Greenblatt, President of Entertainment for Showtime, and Kevin Beggs, President of Programming and Production for Lionsgate. The twelve episode, half-hour series will star Falco as a strong-willed, iconoclastic New York City nurse juggling the frenzied grind of an urban hospital and an equally challenging personal life. The series will go into production in New York in late 2008, and will premiere in 2009.

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"Nothing is more thrilling for us than bringing Edie Falco to Showtime in this unique, quirky, touching comedy/drama," said Greenblatt. "If you suddenly found yourself in the hospital and fighting through our health care system, you would want no one other than Edie Falco -- or Nurse Jackie -- by your side. This show will illuminate the complex and often heroic people who devote their lives to healing the sick while simultaneously trying to make sense of their own complicated personal lives. It's quintessential premium cable, and with Edie on board, quintessential Showtime."

"We're thrilled about the pick-up of 'NURSE JACKIE' and the expansion of our relationship with Showtime on what we expect will be another groundbreaking series," said Beggs. "This subversive, yet wildly entertaining examination of our broken health care system, brought to life by the incomparable Edie Falco and an amazing creative team, promises to excite and provoke audiences."

The series is a co-production of Showtime and Lionsgate. The pilot was written by Liz Brixius, Linda Wallem (The Comeback, That '70's Show), and Evan Dunsky. Wallem and Brixius are executive producers and show runners. Caryn Mandabach will serve as an executive producer. Richie Jackson will serve as co-executive producer.

NURSE JACKIE is a half-hour dark comedy that is at turns wicked, heartbreaking and funny. Edie Falco stars as the title character Jackie O'Hurley, a strong-willed and brilliant -- but very flawed -- emergency room nurse in a complicated New York City hospital. A lapsed Catholic with an occasional weakness for Vicodin and Adderall to get her through the days, Jackie keeps the hospital balanced with her own kind of justice. Every day is a high wire act of juggling patients, doctors, fellow nurses and her own indiscretions. The series also stars Eve Best, Peter Facinelli, Merritt Wever, Haaz Slieman and Paul Schulze.

For her role as Carmela Soprano, Edie Falco was nominated six times for a Lead Actress in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy(R) Award -- and won three times. She has also collected two Golden Globes(R) (seven nominations) and three SAG Awards (seven nominations). On Broadway she starred in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, 'night, Mother and Side Man.

The show is co-produced by Lionsgate and Showtime in association with Caryn Mandabach Productions and Madison Grain Elevator Inc.

About Showtime

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME(R), THE MOVIE CHANNEL(TM) and FLIX(R), as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME(R) TOO(TM), SHOWTIME(R) SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME(R), SHOWTIME BEYOND(R), SHOWTIME NEXT(R), SHOWTIME WOMEN(R), SHOWTIME FAMILYZONE(R) and TMC XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD(R), THE MOVIE CHANNEL HD(TM), SHOWTIME ON DEMAND(TM) and THE MOVIE CHANNEL ON DEMAND(TM). SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME(R) PPV.

About Lionsgate

Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) is the leading next generation filmed entertainment studio with a major presence in the production and distribution of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment, video-on-demand and digitally delivered content. The Company has generated more than $450 million at the North American theatrical box office in the past year and has forged leadership positions in television and home entertainment with the production of such critically-acclaimed television series as Weeds and Mad Men, the distribution of Tyler Perry's House of Payne, Family Feud, South Park, Trivial Pursuit and The Dead Zone, among others, and approximately 7% market share and the industry's leading box office-to-DVD conversion rate in home entertainment. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 12,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate brand is synonymous with entrepreneurial innovation and original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the globe.

SOURCE Showtime Networks Inc.

LOS ANGELES, July 18 /PRNewswire/ -- SHOWTIME has picked up LOCK 'N LOAD, a new half-hour, six-episode reality series, it was announced by Robert Greenblatt, President of Entertainment. On the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling on the 2nd Amendment which reinforces every American's right to bear arms, this show is a fly on the wall at "The Shootist" gun store in Englewood, Colorado, where salesman Josh Ryan is always in full-on pitch mode -- and the steady stream of customers never stops. And for every gun sold by this expert gunslinger at this family-owned store, there's a fascinating story and a fascinating buyer to tell it to him: the new parent who wants to protect his family; the teenager who's an expert hunter; the 30-something woman who feels a little more at ease with a revolver in her purse and the avid collector who simply has a fascination with guns of all kinds. There's even a shooting range in the basement to try out the merchandise before completing the sale. The show will debut in 2009.

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Additionally, SHOWTIME has renewed the three-time Emmy(R)-nominated and Writer's Guild Award-winning PENN & TELLER: BULLSHIT! Now the network's longest-running show, it will continue to feature the notoriously outspoken duo on their crusade to expose the inherent hypocrisy (translation: bullshit) of many of the popular beliefs and sacred institutions in our culture. Season seven will cover varied topics such as orgasms, Little League baseball and the fundamentals of astrology, among others. Ten new episodes have been ordered and will premiere in 2009.

LOCK 'N LOAD doesn't take sides or argue a political perspective. Instead, viewers on both sides of the issue will be able to watch Ryan, a born salesman, wield his patented quick-draw humor and inherent likeability in each exchange, making jokes and big-ticket deals over the blasts echoing from the firing range down below. And all is done before hidden cameras which will only be revealed after the transaction is completed in order to insure a particularly candid and compelling point of view. America is and will probably always be fascinated with the gun culture in our country and this show will help to explain why.

LOCK 'N LOAD is executive produced by Authentic Entertainment, with Tom Rogan and Lauren Lexton serving as executive producers.

PENN & TELLER: BULLSHIT! has been nominated for a Writers Guild Award for Best Comedy/Variety series for four consecutive years and won in 2004. It was also nominated three times for Emmys(R) for Outstanding Reality Program and Outstanding Writing for Non-Fiction Programming. The series is produced by the Academy and Emmy(R) Award-winning Wolper Organization and Star Price Productions and executive produced by Price, Mark Wolper, Penn & Teller, and David Wechter.

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME(R), THE MOVIE CHANNEL(R) and FLIX(R), as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2(TM), SHOWTIME(R) SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME(R), SHOWTIME BEYOND(R), SHOWTIME NEXT(R), SHOWTIME WOMEN(R), SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE(R) and THE MOVIE CHANNEL(R) XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD(R), THE MOVIE CHANNEL(R) HD, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND(R) and THE MOVIE CHANNEL(R) ON DEMAND. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV(R).

SOURCE Showtime Networks Inc.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif., July 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Federal agents and San Bernardino police officers executed federal arrest and search warrants on Thursday that resulted in the arrest of 13 individuals. Enrique Billegas and Isaias Avila were arrested for distribution of methamphetamine and 11 other individuals were arrested for possession of methamphetamine for sale and violations of U.S. immigration laws.

The search warrants and arrests conclude a three-month, joint investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Violent Crime Impact Team (VCIT) and San Bernardino Police Department (SBPD) Narcotics Unit, along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Four firearms, more than $44,000 in U.S. currency, a substantial amount of methamphetamine and seven vehicles were taken into custody. Four of the vehicles had hidden compartments used to transport contraband.

"We are the violent crime police," said Special Agent in Charge John A. Torres of ATF's Los Angeles Field Division. "ATF will continue to work together with our law enforcement partners to identify, disrupt, arrest and prosecute the most violent criminals in the San Bernardino area. The warrants executed yesterday are an outstanding example of a collaborative effort to make our cities safer."

Working in partnership with the SBPD and VCIT, the United States Attorney's Office and the District Attorney's Office have used the firearms statutes and mandatory minimum sentencing provided in the federal court system to obtain the longest possible criminal sentences for prosecution.

More information on ATF and its programs to reduce violent crime is at www.atf.gov.

Contact: Elaine Kwong, PIO

Office: (818) 265-2507

Cell: (213) 925-4547

SOURCE Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives