Brands on Facebook now have the ability to buy promoted posts via mobile as well as on the desktop. Introduced in May, the ad option allows Facebook page administrators to boost exposure for their posts beyond the normal reach they get in fans’ news feeds -- and without having to go through a separate ad dashboard. Promoted posts are available to any page with more than 400 fans and any kind of post can be promoted including status updates, photos, offers, videos and questions. A new version of Facebook’s Pages Manager app that will let businesses buy promoted posts on-the-go …

Yahoo on Tuesday announced closing the sale of half its 40% stake in China-based Alibaba Group, generating proceeds of about $7.6 billion--$6.3 billion in cash and $800 million in preferred shares. Yahoo also received a payment of $550 million for a technology and intellectual property license agreement with Alibaba. The companies reached an agreement in principle on the deal in May. "The completion of the first stage of the Alibaba share repurchase represents a significant milestone for both Alibaba and Yahoo,” said Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, in a statement. “The execution of the deal was excellent, and we are …

Adam Shlachter has joined Publicis' Digitas unit as senior vice president-media. Based in New York, Shlachter will lead media for the American Express Global Advertising & Brand Management team as the New York Media Capability Lead, and in addition lead digital video media work for North America. He reports to Carl Fremont, executive vice president-global media director.

Invidi Technologies, the addressable TV advertising developer that includes WPP's GroupM among its investors, announced it has received a key addressable advertising patent for a "System And Method for Inserting Media Based on Keyword Search."

Razorfish mobile lead Paul Gelb has left the agency to become head of strategy for MoPub, a startup that helps publishers and developers monetize their smartphone apps. In his new role, Gelb is charged with leading the startup’s efforts to strengthen its presence among ad agencies and brand advertisers in connection with in-app advertising. “As MoPub’s Head of Strategy, we’ll be able to leverage his insights on the advertiser side to help publishers drive more revenue. His contributions to building MoPub’s footprint with agencies and brand advertisers will be impactful to our publishers,” said MoPub CEO Jim Payne, in

Mobile ad firm Mobile Posse today announced a pair of new sales executives. Daniel Fowler was named as EVP of national advertising sales, and Sharon Kelley, as VP of sales, for the western region. Fowler most recently handled business development for Perfect Sense Digital, a Web-based product strategy business, and previously was EVP of sales for Gannett-owned Captivate Network. His sales background also includes seven years at AOL. Before joining Mobile Posse, Kelley was chief revenue officer at Adregate Markets and CEO of Bridge Sales & Marketing. She is also an AOL veteran. Mobile Posse, which closed $5 million in additional …

Mobile marketing firm Velti on Tuesday announced closing its largest-ever marketing deal, worth $27 million over two years. That’s equal to about 45% of Velti’s $58.7 million in second quarter revenue. Velti, which described the client only as “a major U.S. brand, “ said the program beginning in the next few weeks is designed to drive increased engagement with, and long-term loyalty of, the brand’s existing customers. “This deal is emblematic of the significant traction we are seeing in the U.S., the single largest country for us in terms of revenues,” said CEO Alex Moukas, in a statement. Velti’s Q2 …

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Samsung is taking aim at the iPhone 5 with a new campaign that compares the latest Apple phone with its flagship Galaxy S III device. According to BGR, the first attack ad from Samsung appeared in newspapers on Sunday, under the heading “It doesn’t take a genius.” In the ad, the South Korean electronics giant lists features of the rival phones side by side, attempting to show the Galaxy device bests the iPhone 5 in several key areas including display size, RAM, available storage and battery life.  A separate post on TechCrunch called the ad misleading (an …

A year and a half after extending Shazam to TV screens, the app can be used to “tag” any program on any channel to get additional content or information, Shazam announced Monday. Specifically, the app works for over 160 channels in the U.S., regardless of broadcast, cable or satellite. The company said its popular app that uses an audio and video signals to identify music and other content has reached 250 million users globally and is adding 2 million each week. That adds up to 10 million tags a day. The app allows TV viewers to find out what …