Turns out Netflix customers took the service's recent price hike harder than expected. As a result, the multiplatform video rental company has had to cut third -quarter U.S. subscriber projections by 4% from 25 million to 24 million. "The majority of the shrinkage, Netflix says, will come from its DVD-only customers," reports All Things D. Still, "Netflix now sees 9.8 million streaming-only customers, down from 10 million previously, and 2.2 million DVD-only customers, down from 3 million expected previously," Barron's Tech Trader Daily reports. "Total streaming  said it expected a bump in third-quarter revenues as …

Collusion, anyone? In an effort to outsmart Google and top ad networks, AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft have reportedly agreed to share remnant ad inventory with each other. Major Web publishers and ad buyers were briefed on the plan Tuesday night, All Things D reports. "AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft hope to convince big Web properties to share some of their ad inventory as well, and to get big ad holding companies to funnel some of their purchases through the consortium," All Things D writes. "The strategy is also designed to help them claw back some ad spending that …

Ending (for the moment) what has been a highly embarrassing episode for AOL and its top executives, TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington agreed this week to walk away from the tech blog he sold to AOL last year. Noting the news at the very end of an internal memo this week, AOL head Tim Armstrong insisted: "The TechCrunch acquisition has been a success for AOL and for our shareholders" -- adding that AOL would still be investing in Arrington's new VC fund. "Tim, in old-timey journalism, that's called burying the lede," ribs All Things D's Kara Swisher. In Arrington's …

It's not all bad news over at Groupon. In the face of negative traffic reports, senior departures, and plans to postpone its IPO, the deal service still broke revenue records in August.   According to new data from daily deals aggregator Yipit, Groupon grew 13% in August -- increasing its revenue to $120.7 million from $106 million in July. "This growth broken down symbolizes a 10% increase in the number of Groupons sold per deal and a 5% increase in the average Groupon price," notes TechCrunch, adding, "both increases compensating for a decline in the number of deals ran …

True to form, Yahoo's just-axed chief exec Carol Bartz isn't going quietly into the night -- and, as such, is threatening to do even more damage to the company. In emails and an interview with Fortune this week, Bartz called fellow Yahoo board members "doofuses," adding that they all "f---ed [her] over." In a follow-up story, Fortune writes, "The language isn't surprising to anyone who has followed Bartz's career. But even colorful CEOs usually keep such thoughts to themselves in the days after termination, largely to protect lucrative payment packages that come with non-disparagement clauses …

At the behest of parent company AOL, Michael Arrington no longer has any connection with TechCrunch, the tech blog he founded and deeply shaped. "AOL executives have decided to terminate Arrington," Fortune reports -- a day after Arrington issued a public ultimatum to AOL: restore editorial independence to TechCrunch, or sell it back to Arrington. Still, "The ending has been written but much of the final chapter remains blank," Fortune adds. Specifically, what does Arrington's ouster mean for TechCrunch;  CrunchFunch -- Arrington's new VC fund, which is chiefly backed by AOL; AOL head Tim Armstrong; and Arianna …

Tim Armstrong and Arianna Huffington must rue the day they met Michael Arrington. The founder of TechCrunch -- which AOL bought last year -- has issued an ultimatum: that AOL restore editorial independence to the tech blog or sell it back to Arrington. "In other words, he wants TechCrunch to be free from Arianna Huffington's meddling," writes VentureBeat. "If not, Arrington says he'll quit (the job he was already ousted from)," quips The Los Angeles Times, referring to reports that Arrington was stripped of his duties at TechCrunch following his recent decision to …

Just last year, Nokia had over double Apple's mobile market share. By the end of this year, however, Taipai-based daily Digitimes is predicting that Apple will blow Nokia's once-dominant position to bits. "Apple's smartphone shipments are projected to top 86.4 million units in 2011, up 82% from 47.5 million units in 2010," according to Luke Lin, analyst for Digitimes Research. "In contrast, Nokia's smartphone shipments in 2011 will decline to 74.4 million units from over 100 million in 2010." "The news is a reminder of just how far Nokia has fallen from grace, and how much influence …

Late last year, upon AOL's agreement to buy TechCrunch, founder and voice Michael Arrington said he planned to stay with the tech blog for years, if not "all my life." Less than a year on, Arrington appears to be hanging up his editor hat to raise a venture capital fund "Crunchfund," which will be backed in part by AOL. To be clear, Arrington is "not employed by AOL" anymore, AOL spokesman Mario Ruiz told Business Insider on Friday. "It appears that that this relationship [with AOL's venture arm, ‘AOL Ventures'] is not an employment relationship, but a …

Ready for its close-up, mobile TV and video platform MobiTV just filed its S-1 with the SEC. In the public offering, MobiTV plans to raise as much as $75 million. "Unlike Netflix, Hulu and the rest, MobiTV's main business has been powering other companies' mobile TV services," reports paidContent. "Unfortunately, MobiTV has yet to make a profit," TechCrunch points out. "The company has taken a loss for the past three years." Also, MobiTV "warns in the filing that it depends on three customers, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, for most of its revenue," TechCrunch adds. "To …