Burbank-based home improvement site for women, Be Jane Inc., just buckled its tool belt. The 2-year-old company appointed Eric P. Meyer as chairman and chief operating officer, and secured private funding from him as well.
Meyer’s last project was building online movie-rental company Netflix Inc. as one of the founders. Be Jane focuses on the female do-it-yourselfer, and is capitalizing on viewer fascination with home improvement and design shows popularized by Home and Garden Television (HGTV). The site has a regular column, called “Ask Jane,” in Better Homes & Gardens’ “Do It Yourself” magazine. Be Jane’s target market is the 17 million single-women homeowners, a number expected to double over the next five years, according to the company.
The Web site boasts that nine out of 10 women surveyed by Lowe’s feel comfortable using a power tool, while nearly eight out of 10 claimed to own one. Perhaps the company’s strongest pitch, however, is that more than half the female homeowners surveyed reported they’d rather work on improving their homes than on improving their careers.
Professional Decorum
The Electronics Entertainment Expo, the biggest video game industry confab in the country, is scheduled at the Los Angeles Convention Center May 9-12. E3, as the trade show is called, will play host to more than 450 exhibitors in its 12th year. Last year’s event drew nearly 60,000 game enthusiasts. Organizers said this year’s event will feature 5,800 flat-screen computer and TV monitors, and 850,000 pounds of electronic equipment mounted on the ceiling.
The event has a strict “industry professionals only” policy, but the mobs of teen-agers waiting in line for the doors to open belie a more flexible definition of “professional.” Last year’s event boasted a 56-foot LED monitor, the biggest at the show yet (courtesy of Sony Corp.), and an impressive collection of authentic military vehicles, (courtesy of the U.S. Army.)
Tech Tack
In its ever-expanding effort to take over the consumer media world, Yahoo Inc. launched a consumer technology Web site last week. Called Yahoo! Tech, the site will be managed from Yahoo Media’s Santa Monica offices, and bills itself as the “non-techie” tech site. The site’s writers and advisors will focus on typical consumer-types, such as “the Mom,” “the Working Guy” and “Techie Diva.”
Yahoo spirited tech analyst Becky Worley away from CNN and ABC’s “Good Morning America,” to host her own weekly segment called “Hook Me Up.” Yahoo Tech will mesh nicely with Yahoo’s shopping site, providing product reviews and question-and-answer guides. But its raison d’ & #281;tre isn’t electronics sales it’s the advertising.
Name Games
Newly formed Demand Media Inc. has reportedly raised $120 million to acquire generic domain names Web sites whose names sound like something else, or which may accidentally get typed in a browser during a careless search. The Santa Monica company, headed by former MySpace.com Chief Executive Richard Rosenblatt, already owns 150,000 domain names and is aggressively seeking more.
It plans to throw content and advertising on the sites for the accidental passer-by. Most are bare-bones sites with catchy names. The company expects to generate ad revenue from the sites. Venture backers, other than Rosenblatt, include Spectrum Equity Investors, Oak Investment Partners and Generation Partners. Latham & Watkins LLP formed the legal and intellectual property team.
Staff Reporter Hilary Potkewitz can be reached at
323-549-5225, ext. 226, or at
[email protected]
.
