bloggingbuyouts

A fresh report out of Reuters is saying that Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) has withdrawn from the bidding process to acquire The Weather Channel due to price. The deadlines on this were supposed to be noon today.

Recent reports put Landmark Communications, the owner of the Weather Channel, was in direct talks with Time Warner and a rival group made up of General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal, The Blackstone Group, L.P. (NYSE: BX) and Bain Capital.

Because this is a private transaction and because this is such a large deal for the ultimate buyer(s) and sellers, this one has been a hard one to follow with any credible or dead set numbers and terms.

This is an ongoing and developing story with an outcome that is not yet known. Stay tuned.

As the old saying goes: you're only as good as your last deal.

Well, it looks like this is the case with Albie Hecht. His former gig was the president of Nickelodeon, where he helped to bring to life such franchises as "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "Dora the Explorer."

But, Hecht thinks he still has the creative instincts – and so do some big-time investors. This week, he announced that his two-year old firm, Worldwide Biggies, snagged $9 million in funding from GE's (NYSE: GE) NBC, Hearst, Alan Patricof, Platform Equity and PrismVentureWorks.

Basically,the focus of Worldwide Biggies is on digital entertainment (and user interactivity). And, yes, the demographic is on the youth market.

And, it already looks like the big media companies are taking notice of the space. After all, last week, Disney (NYSE: DIS) agreed to purchase Club Penguin for $350 million.

So, once again, it looks like Hecht is at the right place at the right time.

Also, if you want to check out more recent venture capital fundings, click here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.