Rod Perth has been named the new president-CEO of NATPE||Content First, following a search. Perth, who was Founder and President of RHP Media Consulting, succeeds Rick Feldman, who remains a consultant to NATPE.

American Express and Zynga have teamed once again on a co-branded prepaid card that lets users earn virtual rewards for real-world purchases. The partnership is aimed at driving business for American Express’ Serve digital wallet, launched last year to draw customers that might not otherwise be eligible for its credit cards. Under the Zynga Serve Rewards program, cardholder’s who make five purchases of more than $25 will receive “Farm Cash,” the in-game currency for buying virtual goods within Zynga’s popular FarmVille game. As the program expands, all purchases will receive in-game rewards tracked through an in-game dashboard. Later this …

In a summer experiment of sorts ABC News will try out an extension of “Good Morning America” with something called “Good Afternoon America.”  The new programming move was expected. The nine-week effort will start up after Independence Day on Monday,  July 9th for the new hour-long show, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., which will be hosted by GMA personalities, Josh Elliott and Lara Spencer. GMA regulars such as Sam Champion, Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos will be making special appearances. Celebrities, music performances, pop culture news, as well as original entertainment, lifestyle, health, workplace and consumer reporting will be …

I saw some amazing feats last week during Internet Week in New York, but one of the best was pulled off by the CementBloc, mainly because it featured, well, some amazing feet.

WPP’s GroupM has consolidated its ad-buying on Facebook and other social networks through new deal with Buddy Media. The firm has become the “preferred social ad management partner” for GroupM, which last year spent $200 million on Facebook advertising. Under the agreement, the media-buying giant will roll out Buddy Media’s ad-buying software across all of its agencies including Maxus, MEC, MediaCom, Mindshare, M80 and other business units. WPP invested $5 million in Buddy Media as part of a broader venture funding round in 2010. At the time, WPP said it would integrate Buddy Media’s platform into its own set …

Scott Sullivan has been named global chief technology officer of Adconion Media Group. A long-time Internet technology exec, Sullivan most recently was CTO of Everbridge Communications

Experian Marketing Services has acquired Conversen.

Yahoo has reached agreement to sell up to half its stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. back to the China-based company for $7.1 billion following months of negotiation. Under the deal, Yahoo is selling up to half its 40% stake in Alibaba, including $6.3 billion in cash and $800 million in Alibaba preferred stock. After taxes, Yahoo is expected to yield $5 billion from the move. Of the remaining 20%, Alibaba will be required either to repurchase one-quarter of Yahoo's current stake at the share price of a potential public offering of the Chinese Internet company, or allow Yahoo …

Facebook has priced its initial public offering at $38 a share, giving the world’s largest social network a valuation of $104 billion. That puts the company on par with the market cap of Amazon and ahead of other tech giants like HP and Dell combined. Facebook priced at the high end of its $34 to $38 IPO price range—hardly surprising given the outsized level of demand by investors eager to get a piece of the third biggest offering in U.S. history. It had previously raised the range from $28 to $35. The company could raise more than …

During a week in which it seems everyone is taking Manhattan -- TV networks, Internet companies, heck, even MediaPost -- Publicis' VivaKi Ventures unit just announced plans to "take" it on June 13.