eByline, an online service that brings together freelance journalists and publishers looking for stories, announced today it has raised $1.5 million in its first round of funding from The E.W. Scripps Company.

The site, eByline.com, serves as a marketplace for freelance journalists and reporters to showcase their work and offer it up for syndication. Reporters can set whatever price they want for their work. Publishers can then pick and choose from individual stories and pay the reporter directly without having to set up any kind of subscription. eByline then takes an 8 percent cut of the transaction.

Not everyone can jump on the service as a freelance journalist, though. eByline requires that potential freelancers have samples of paid freelance reporting work from within the year prior to joining the service — commentary writing, which is what many leisure bloggers do, doesn’t count. Freelancers have to provide clips as well as have some educational background, although the site doesn’t specify what level of education is required. Reporters also need referrals from an editor or news organization and must be U.S. citizens (“due to tax reporting and payment processing”), although it looks like the service might be working to expand beyond that last restriction in the future.

Publishers can also sign up to distribute their content and can set their stories to be distributed under embargo if they choose. On this front, eByline is taking a crack at the major wire services, which provide a lot of content to daily newspapers and other news publications across the world. The major services — like Reuters, Bloomberg and Dow Jones — all provide content as part of a subscription. eByline hopes to buck that trend by providing content á la carte.

The Los Angeles, Calif.-based company was founded in 2009, but the service officially launched last month. Its partnered content publishers include ProPublica, business entertainment news magazine Variety, and some independent news publications like The Texas Observer. It has four employees.

Tags: freelance, journalism, news publications, wire

Companies: Bloomberg, Dow jones, eByline, Thomson Reuters

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

$$$ Deutsche Bank’s i-banking head wants more women on top. [FINS]

$$$ Blackstone: Buyout Business Overheated [WSJ]

$$$ The banker who bought James Bond’s Car [Dealbook]

$$$ Smooth Jams From the ‘Rent Is Too Damn High‘ Guy [CNBC]

$$$ Google Is Now Providing Servants To Its Employees [Gawker]

$$$ Macquarie to Keep Expanding Even After Profit Slide [Bloomberg]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Say what you will about 70 Pine Street– the headquarters of AIG, the most majestic insurance company/hedge fund in all the land, but we’ve all had some good times there, whether directly or as the indirect beneficiaries of stuff that went down. It’s incredibly emotional even just to think about the fact that the company is moving out of the building but in times of great sadness like these, we must put on a brave face, celebrate, and pay homage. To that end, management is throwing a little party next week to mark the end of the era. Refreshments– presumably alcoholic in nature, as is fitting– will be served and while the invite doesn’t say, we’re just going to assume that reenactments of the “best of” moments will take place. Such as:

- The day Hank Greenberg signed off on AIG-FP and Joe Casanno saying by calling him “one of the greats”

- The earnings conference call in May of 2008 when they announced they were raising capital AND raising their dividend

- The time Goldman Sachs sent two dudes over in the middle of the night to shove Ed Liddy’s head in a toilet while the following dialogue took place:

GS Thug: Where’s the money, Liddy? Where’s the fucking money, shithead?
Liddy: It’s uh… uh… it’s down there somewhere, let me take another look.

For over 80 years, AIG has had—and remains committed to having—a significant presence in lower Manhattan. Since 1976, 70 Pine Street has been AIG’s New York headquarters and home to thousands of employees who have contributed to our success. As a tribute to this landmark building and to the employees who will continue to serve in the downtown area at 180 Maiden Lane and other locations, please join us for a small reception as we say, “Farewell to 70 Pine.”

Tuesday, November 2

3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

70 Pine Street lobby

Refreshments will be served.

(See attached invitation)

AIG Farewell Invite [PDF]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

The culture of the employees, the trading floor [as depicted in Money Never Sleeps]…I thought all that was pretty good, though some of the machines looked funky. And those equity guys were portrayed very accurately, like the lugheads that that know their stories on a couple of [stocks]. At Lehman the difference between equity floor and the fixed income floor was like night and day. It’s like the Harvard, MIT crowd in fixed income and then it’s like UMass on the equity floor. So many equity guys totally got blind-sided. They didn’t understand credit derivatives, and they just were so wrapped up in their own little stories.– Lawrence McDonald, managing director at Pangea Capital, previously VP of distressed debt and convertible securities trading at Lehman Brothers, and guy for whom the Wall Street sequel was “hard to watch” because it “brought back a lot of bad memories.” [TDB]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Intel (INTC) this morning said it has agreed to acquire the Texas Instruments (TXN) cable modem product line. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Intel said the deal “enhances” its focus on the cable industry and related consumer electronics market segments.
Intel said all of the employees of the unit [...]

Article courtesy of BARRONS.com: Tech Trader Daily

$$$ Matthew Goldstein: “Jason Ader, a former hot-shot casino industry analyst turned wealthy hedge fund manager, is rolling the dice, hoping to become a community banker in Las Vegas.” [Reuters]

$$$ The Perfect M&A Resume [FINS]

$$$ Fannie Mae Employees Received 153 VIP Loans [WSJ]

$$$ Playboy Launches New Safe For Work Website, Which Reportedly Blows [CNBC]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Talking about KG’s grandmother, obviously, and not you know who. Apparently Genevieve Huebsch Gratz, who died last week at the age of 98, was a “fount of unsolicited advice” and taught Kenny-boy everything he knows.

Through her stories, Griffin said, he learned the value of hard work and kindness. Gratz explained to him how when customers couldn’t pay for their oil in winter, she would let the bill run until spring, and how Wayne Gratz created a profit-sharing program for his employees.

Oh, and take note, Tim Geithner: know what GHG said to the Citadel founder right before she went into risky surgery earlier this year? “Make sure you pay my taxes on time.”

Griffin’s Grandmother Dies At 98 [FINalternatives]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

RBS CEO Stephen Hester recently stated that rebuilding an investment bank from a pile of rubble is a nearly impossible task but if anyone can to it, it’s him. He’s got a plan, a five-year plan in fact, for doing so and you know what that plan doesn’t involve? Sending any of his employees or clients out to enjoy a little football and maybe some drinks. Between you and me, it’s not something Steve-o wants to do but apparently buying a few mill in tickets what with the whole assholeway being ownedway by the axpayertay wouldn’t look good, according to one killjoy (“If a bank was buying $6 million to $10 million (of hospitality) for an event before 2007, and they get state support today, they can’t come to the World Cup and get tickets,” Peter Csanadi said in an interview. “They just can’t do it.”) But turn those frowns upside down because guess what? The World Cup is coming to RBS!

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc will convert an atrium at its office into a soccer field with giant screens to entertain bankers and clients during the World Cup. RBS will invite as many as 3 000 investment banking clients to its London office to watch the matches according to an e-mail to employees. The 32-team tournament starts on June 11 when host South Africa meets Mexico.

“To help you join in the festivities and feel part of this sporting celebration, we would like to invite you to enjoy screenings of selected matches in our purpose built ‘stadium’ at 250 Bishopsgate” the lender said in the internal e-mail. “With a canopy covering the space, an indoor pitch and giant screens it promises to be a great venue to watch the games.”

RBS to build own World Cup stadium for bankers, clients [MW]
RBS, Nationwide Shun World Cup, Hurting Hospitality Providers [Bloomberg]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Hey hey hey! Look what we have here– it’s a bunch of random Citi customers who apparently remember Debrahlee Lorenzana and have graciously offered to weigh in on the situation, offering quotes that, though they may not help her case against Citi, might certainly attract the attention of certain organizations who require their employees to be “distractingly hot,” not that that’s what Debs and the lawyer who made her do a photoshoot that showed her in work appropriate clothing such as the ensemble at left are angling for whatsoever! Here’s what the character witnesses had to say:

* “I would walk the extra few blocks just to go to this one to see her,” said publicist Matt Saulk, 36, who favored the Rockefeller Center branch where Lorenzana worked over one on W. 52nd St. “I would think Citibank would want employees like her – it brings in the customers.”

* “Male customers would often stare,” said Jessica Ramos, 29, who works in advertising. “It was rather funny, actually.”

* “She’s a pretty girl,” said investment banker Jack Russel, 45. “Maybe she was just making the other girls jealous.”

* Harold Mack, a paralegal, fondly recalled Lorenzana wearing “business-casual type things.” “Whew, she was a hot one,” said Mack, 26. “I’m sad she’s gone, but she did stick out. I know she distracted me whenever I came into the bank.”

Male Customers Were Eager To Catch A Glimpse [NYDN]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Perhaps you thought the employees of 200 West Street would rather take a Taibbi Pie to the face than participate in the new game the kids are playing these days, wherein you surprise a “bro” with a bottle of Smirnoff Ice, any time, any place and he has to get down on one knee and chug it, unless he happens to whip out his own bottle, in which case, you got owned and have to drink both? That the Masters and Mistresses of the Universe would rather leave such Plebeian pursuits to the employees of Citi and Bank of America? That they would have more pressing things to deal with during work? Or if not, that they would have more sophisticated drinking games to play? Well ya thought wrong, ladies. So far there has been at least one confirmed icing taking place on the premises. Not sure if it was on the trading floor or C-suite but senior execs would be wise to look out for Gary Cohn, who was seen earlier this morning stuffing his pants with bottles, lest he be caught off guard. For those unfamiliar (not saying Viniar, just saying Viniar), a quick demo:

Why Bros Get Iced, Bro [The Awl]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker