More rumors, and Amp’d Mobile
May 25th, 2007 by Benjamin KuoI posted a few days ago about the heavy trading of rumors on blog sites lately. The latest is an unsubstantiated rumor that Peter Adderton is out at Los Angeles MVNO Amp’d Mobile. For background, ValleyWag, the Silicon Valley “gossip” rag ran a piece yesterday claiming that Adderton is out as CEO at the firm; then, GigaOm chimed in with the rumor. Dan Primack at Private Equity Week speculates on the source and timeline of the rumor here.
I don’t know if Adderton is in or out, however I talk to many, many insiders in the industry here in Los Angeles who tell me that Amp’d Mobile is doing outstandingly well. People who know firsthand tell me that their subscription revenues are growing by leaps and bounds, along with the number of subscribers they have; plus their average monthly spend per subscriber is well above and beyond everyone else in the industry, driven in a great part by the content they are selling on their phones. The story I hear is a complete 180 degree story from a year ago, when the MVNO was struggling to gain momentum.
One reason I think the rumors continue to dog Amp’d is Peter Adderton does not give interviews, and is very, very hesitant to speak to the press. I’ve spoken to Peter before and he’s just not interested in talking, due to the amount of negative press he’s received in the past.
(Disclaimer: socalTECH’s sponsors include Redpoint Ventures, one of Amp’d Mobile’s venture capital backers, along with a number of service providers who have Amp’d as a client).
