Gawker: valleywag, amp'd mobile

If WIlliam Morris hires wireless controversarian Peter Adderton, can they afford the requisite helicopter?

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:40:00 EDT

Former Amp'd Mobile CEO Peter Adderton has reportedly landed a new job, says Rafat Ali, as president and CEO at talent agency WIlliam Morris's new-media division, Agency 3.0. (William Morris later confirmed the hire via press release.) Adderton got the gig likely because of the mobile-video hit "Lil Bush," which eventually ended up on Comedy Central. But in our hearts, Adderton will always be the guy who burned through Amp'd's $360 million funding in just two years. Where did investors' money go?

Adderton and Amp'd lost most of it by selling handsets to consumers with bad credit. But a good portion went toward Adderton's daily commute from his home in Orange County to Amp'd's headquarters in Los Angeles. By helicopter. (Photo by tiarescott)

Virgin Mobile IPO fails to pop

Jordan Golson — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:19:17 EDT

Some IPOs — like Google and VMWare—are impressive from the start. Others — like Vonage, which has fallen 85 percent since going public — fall flat. Virgin Mobile, with its cherry brand name and backers, should have had a sparkling debut. And yet it didn't.

Virgin Mobile, unlike the big carriers, rents a wireless network rather than owning one, essentially gussying up and reselling Sprint's service under its own name. It's a challenging business model, known in the trade as being a "mobile virtual network operator" or "MVNO." Disney and Amp'd, among others, have failed to make a go of it.

Renting one's network means lower capital costs, and according to the Wall Street Journal, Virgin has 4.83 million subscribers and actually made a small profit this year. Virgin Mobile has plenty of revenue, but with a flat IPO today and loads of debt, it is unclear if it can make itself into a viable company.

Disney Mobile shut down last month and Amp'd burned through hundreds of millions of dollars with nothing to show for it. History does not look good for Virgin, but with strong name recognition among their target market and clever advertising, we don't put it past Sir Richard to succeed where others have failed.

(Photo by AP/Jacques Brinon)

Ex-Amp'd CEO Peter Adderton plots his next move

Owen Thomas — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:57:28 EDT

If at first you don't succeed, be Peter Adderton. Ever since Amp'd Mobile, the troubled wireless carrier, messily declared bankruptcy in June, Adderton, its former CEO, has been trying to plot his own exit strategy. A rumored deal with Qualcomm never materialized, which makes us equally suspicious of MoCoNews's report that Adderton is "close" to joining Clearwire, the broadband-wireless Internet service provider. Why Clearwire would want to get entangled with Adderton isn't clear. Granted, Amp'd Mobile had a hit in "Lil Bush," the mobile-video series that made the jump to the boob tube on Comedy Central. But most ISPs fare poorly in the content business. And even if Clearwire really wants to make a go of it, is Adderton the best possible partner?

So how did Amp'd Mobile, the bankrupt pay-as-you-go...

Megan McCarthy — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 19:17:20 EDT

So how did Amp'd Mobile, the bankrupt pay-as-you-go cellular service, burn through $360M so quickly? Looks like the company funded high-flying CEO Peter Adderton's collection of porn DVDs. [VentureBeat]

Peter Adderton's Amp'd exit strategy

Owen Thomas — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 19:19:01 EDT

If you're an Amp'd Mobile subscriber, you're officially out of luck at midnight, when Amp'd stops providing customer service. Not that the bankrupt wireless carrier was providing much before. The Amp'd FAQ page, for example, tells customers that they can use their phones with Sprint and Verizon Wireless — but those carriers are telling would-be subscribers that the models are incompatible. There's no graceful exit from Amp'd, in other words. Unless you're former CEO Peter Adderton. Here's how he's planning a comeback, according to a well-placed source.

Adderton, who left the troubled carrier last month, has returned to the States from Australia. And how does he plan to build on his business reputation after blowing through $350 million at the money-losing Amp'd? Why, by selling the content-distribution platform Amp'd built to Qualcomm, the San Diego-based wireless chipmaker, and then getting brought in by Qualcomm to run the business. Sounds like that decision would be up to a bankruptcy-court judge and Qualcomm, not Adderton, but that's what he's been telling people in the industry.