In a big announcement, OLX has finally publicly announced that they just received a strategic investment from South African media conglomerate Naspers in the range of $20 to $40 million. The full story by Leena Rao is over on TechCrunch, Naspers Makes Strategic Investment In Craigslist Competitor OLX

We’ve been hearing recently that South African media conglomerate and recent DST investor Naspers was sniffing around Crasiglist competitor OLX. Today, we confirmed with OLX co-founders Alec Oxenford and Fabrice Grinda that Naspers has made a strategic investment in the online classifieds company.

While Buenos Aires-based OLX is not disclosing the amount invested,
we’ve heard from sources that the investment was in the range of $20 to
$40 million. Naspers also bought out the shares of all of OLX’s
previous investors, which include Nexus Venture Partners, The Founders Fund, DN Capital, General Catalyst Partners, and Bessemer Venture Partners. Prior to this round of funding, OLX had raised nearly $30 million.

While the free classifieds site has trouble competing with Craigslist
in the U.S., OLX has a strong user base internationally, and is the
current leader in Latin America
and Asia. The company, which is seeing over 125 million unique
visitors per month worldwide, has a presence in 90 countries in 40
languages.

In 2007 OLX has made an investment in Edeng.cn, a Chinese free classifieds site and acquired Mundoanuncio.com,
a Craigslist-like classifieds site targeting the Hispanic market, in
2006. OLX also has a hold on the Philippines market thanks to a white label partnership with Friendster. And OLX scored a similar deal with social network hi5.

So why does Naspers want a stake in OLX? The conglomerate has been
making a number of investments in the emerging Latin American market,
including BrandsClub,
Grupo Abril, Movile and Buscapé. According to a joint statement made by
OLX and Naspers, the South African firm’s long-term, general strategy
“is to acquire/establish a core internet community within a specific
country/region and to then expand the operations by adding additional
services such as e-commerce, communication, social networking, content
and gaming.”

Via Marketing Conversation via TechCrunch.

In a big announcement, OLX has finally publicly announced that they just received a strategic investment from South African media conglomerate Naspers in the range of $20 to $40 million. The full story by Leena Rao is over on TechCrunch, Naspers Makes Strategic Investment In Craigslist Competitor OLX

We’ve been hearing recently that South African media conglomerate and recent DST investor Naspers was sniffing around Crasiglist competitor OLX. Today, we confirmed with OLX co-founders Alec Oxenford and Fabrice Grinda that Naspers has made a strategic investment in the online classifieds company.

While Buenos Aires-based OLX is not disclosing the amount invested,
we’ve heard from sources that the investment was in the range of $20 to
$40 million. Naspers also bought out the shares of all of OLX’s
previous investors, which include Nexus Venture Partners, The Founders Fund, DN Capital, General Catalyst Partners, and Bessemer Venture Partners. Prior to this round of funding, OLX had raised nearly $30 million.

While the free classifieds site has trouble competing with Craigslist
in the U.S., OLX has a strong user base internationally, and is the
current leader in Latin America
and Asia. The company, which is seeing over 125 million unique
visitors per month worldwide, has a presence in 90 countries in 40
languages.

In 2007 OLX has made an investment in Edeng.cn, a Chinese free classifieds site and acquired Mundoanuncio.com,
a Craigslist-like classifieds site targeting the Hispanic market, in
2006. OLX also has a hold on the Philippines market thanks to a white label partnership with Friendster. And OLX scored a similar deal with social network hi5.

So why does Naspers want a stake in OLX? The conglomerate has been
making a number of investments in the emerging Latin American market,
including BrandsClub,
Grupo Abril, Movile and Buscapé. According to a joint statement made by
OLX and Naspers, the South African firm’s long-term, general strategy
“is to acquire/establish a core internet community within a specific
country/region and to then expand the operations by adding additional
services such as e-commerce, communication, social networking, content
and gaming.”

Via Marketing Conversation via TechCrunch.

(via http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=100498)

CEO and Chairman, 10% Owner of Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (EBS) Fuad El-hibri sells
84,433 shares of EBS on 07/16/2010 at an average price of $17.9 a share.

Emergent Biosolutions Inc. has a market cap of $535.77 million;
its shares were traded at around $17.26 with a P/E ratio of 21.85 and
P/S ratio of 2.28.

EBS is in the portfolios of Chuck Royce of Royce& Associates,
Bruce Kovner of Caxton Associates, Steven Cohen of SAC Capital
Advisors, Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies LLC, Manning &
Napier Advisors, Inc.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) announced today that it is revising upwards its 2010 annual guidance to now reflect anticipated total revenues of $275 to $300 million and net income of $40 to $50 million. Of the anticipated total revenues of $275 to $300 million, $165 to $190 million is expected to be recognized in the second half of 2010. This revised forecast does not reflect or incorporate any revenue impact from a possible development contract for the company’s rPA vaccine candidate.

The revision to the 2010 financial forecast is supported primarily by the recent modification to the company’s current BioThrax^® procurement contract with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This contract modification increased the number of doses of BioThrax that the company can deliver into the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) during calendar 2010.

This increased volume of available doses of BioThrax is due to consistently high production yields throughout 2010. This modification by the CDC to our existing BioThrax procurement contract reinforces, yet again, the US government’s commitment to BioThrax as a critical component of the Strategic National Stockpile and to our nation’s defense against bioterrorism,” said Fuad El-Hibri, chairman and chief executive officer of Emergent.

“This is another example of how we continue to work with our US government partners in establishing BioThrax as the backbone of our readiness against the threat of anthrax and to building a stockpile as rapidly as possible.”

Daniel J. Abdun-Nabi, president and chief operating officer of Emergent, also commented, “The production yields we have been experiencing are a direct result of our commitment to driving innovation in our manufacturing process and to a multi-year initiative focused on process optimization of the existing Building 12 production facility.

We are extremely pleased with the results of our continuous process improvement program for BioThrax and expect this program to drive the maintenance of positive production metrics going forward.”

“Mr. White’s expertise in financial management, gained in a patient-focused health care system and service-oriented environment, will prove an invaluable asset in guiding Emergent’s management team towards further growth and in increasing value for shareholders,” Fuad El-Hibri, Emergent BioSolutions, Inc.’s chairman and CEO, said. “We are delighted to welcome him to Emergent’s Board of Directors, composed of seasoned experts with diverse skill sets.”

Start rockin’ your red white and blue because this Friday marks the beginning of the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Vancouver, BC. The city will welcome all of the worthy competitors and their diehard fans who are lucky enough to see these world-class athletes live. For those of us who cannot make it to Vancouver and witness the excitement first-hand, TeamUSA.org is giving fans a chance to take part in all the action.

Register at TeamUSA.org and you will:

• Receive exclusive updates during the Winter Games
• Get the inside scoop, event by event
• Hear directly from our Olympic athletes as they chase their dream
• Be able to download photo and video highlights, right to your desktop

Team USA has been training hard. We must recognize their admirable accomplishments and cheer our hearts out to help the great USA take home some sweet gold. Register now to be ready for Olympic fever!

CEO of Bethesda, Maryland, based Emergent Biosolutions, Fuad El-Hibri, was recently named one of the top 500 most influential Muslims and is featured as one of four Muslims who are living in the United States in 500 Most Influential Muslims: Science and Technology over on Examiner.com National.

500 Most Influential Muslims: Science and Technology

The Prince Alwaleed Bin Talaal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre published its first edition in what promises to be an annual series of insight into the movers and shakers of the Muslim world. Entitled The 500 Most Influential Muslims 2009, the book categorizes Muslims’ influential capacities into 15 categories: scholarly , political, administrative, lineage, preachers, women, youth, philanthropy, development, science and technology, arts and culture, Qu’ran reciters, media, radicals, international Islamic networks and issues of the day. As part of an ongoing series each week those receiving mention in North America will be highlighted. This week those who seem to have influence in Science and Technology will be highlighted. In this category, there are four people honored living in the United States.

Mohamad Chakaki is a founding member of Green Muslims, a Washington, D.C. group that seeks to relate sustainable environmental policy to faith. He works on projects in the US and the Middle East.

Fuad El Hibri is the CEO of Emergent BioSolutions, Inc. BioSolutions is a multinational bio-pharmaceutical company that is the sole-holder of the FDA-approved anthrax vaccine. He is also Chairman of the East West Resources Corporation and Chairman and Treasurer of the El Hibri Charitable Foundation.

Dr. Mehmet Oz is a cardiothoracic surgeon recently named one of the sexiest men alive for 2009. A frequent visitor of the Oprah Winfrey show and now host of his own show, he is a professor at Columbia University and leads numerous charities and organizations. He has authored several books on personal health.

Ahmed Zewail is the recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research on femotochemistry. He is the Linus Pauling Professor at the California Institute for Technology and was recently asked to serve at President Obama’s invitation as an adviser to the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.