Pennsylvania, US-based age verification startup AgeCheq picked up $1 million in a Series A funding round to ramp up its effort in helping app and game developers comply with federal requirements and standards.

NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, together with Los Angeles Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter, have become the new owners of women’s basketball team LA Sparks.

Former LA Galaxy soccer star David Beckham reportedly sought help from Qatar Sports Investment (QSI) in funding his new Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise to be established in Miami, Florida.

Coralville, US-based education startup Higher Learning Technologies bagged $1 million from investors in its first funding round to dozens more to its existing mobile education apps this year.

California-based identity authentication firm HID Global acquired Albuquerque, New Mexico-based authentication solutions provider Lumidigm for an undisclosed amount to extend its product portfolio and gain new secure identity solutions.

Media and digital marketing firm Dentsu Aegis Network added China-based social creative firm Verawom for an undisclosed sum, in a deal that will integrate the latter into the Isobar China group.

New York, US-based investment management firm Blackrock raised its stake in UK-based Internet media firm Blinkx to 13% amid allegations that the latter was using adware to boost its revenues.

Irvine, US-based startup Oculus VR took home the award for the Best Hardware Startup of the year during the 7th Annual Crunchies of TechCrunch for its breakthrough Oculus Rift VR headset.

Andrew Bocking, the Executive Vice President of BBM, exited Ontario, Canada-based smartphone and enterprise software maker BlackBerry, with the said division to be folded into Global Enterprise Solutions under the leadership of John Sims.

Soon-to-be Microsoft-owned mobile phone maker Nokia will reportedly launch its first Android phone code named Normandy, which could be powered by Microsoft and Nokia, on February 24 in Barcelona, Spain.

Illinois, US-based book retailing giant Barnes & Noble confirmed that it eliminated jobs across the company, but denied eliminating their Nook hardware engineering division, contrary to a report from Business Insider.

Google announced today that its media streaming dongle, Chromecast, now supports YouTube videos that are embedded on the page, eliminating the need to navigate to the YouTube site or mobile app in order to flick videos to the TV screen.

San Francisco, US-based startup Super.cc was launched by Aviary co-founder Michael Galpert to provide an automated way for busy people to add meetings, appointments, and other events to calendars and send out invites.

Teen apparel retailer Aeropostale, which had posted losses for four straight quarters, is reportedly mulling over a capital increase from private equity investors. Should the teen apparel retailer decide to raise capital, Aeropostale may do it via a private investment in public equity (PIPE) deal.

San Francisco, US-based big data startup Splice Machine raised $15 million in a Series B funding round led by Interwest Partners for the marketing and development of its database that can make Hadoop run in real time.

Private equity firms, including General Atlantic Partners, Actis Capital, Baring Private Equity Partners Asia and Apax Partners, are reportedly in talks with the principal owners of Credit Analysis and Research Ltd. CARE's top three shareholders are seeking to divest a 32% to 38% stake in the credit ratings company.

Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer on Friday announced the Internet corporation's partnership with San Francisco-based online business reviews website Yelp. The cooperation reportedly will put Yahoo in a position capable of competing with search engine giant Google.

LinkedIn Corp., a professional networking site, has bought online recruiting startup Bright.com for $120 million via a combination of stock and cash. This is reportedly LinkedIn's largest acquisition and is expected to close by the first quarter of 2014.

Tim Armstrong, the chief executive of mass media company AOL Inc., on Saturday issued a memo informing employees that his company would revert to its previous employee retirement benefit plan after drawing outrage from employees. Armstrong also apologized for an unpopular remark he made in an attempt to explain the change in policy.

Japanese gaming platform and web services provider DeNA invested an undisclosed amount in Between, a chat app for couples created by South Korean firm VCNC, to help the app become an open platform.

New York, US-based travel management firm Rocketrip bagged $2.6 million in a Series A funding round led by Canaan Partners to accelerate its product development and to beef up its sales and customer services.

New York Times columnist and former executive editor Bill Keller will be leaving the American media firm to become the editor-in-chief of nonprofit news startup The Marshall Project on March 1.

Columbus, US-based natural gas compression startup Simple-Fill received an undisclosed amount of technology grant from the Technology Concept Fund, an investment fund backed by Ohio State University.

New Mexico, US-based app design and development startup ByteWare Apps launched Superflat, its first iPad gaming app, which is a supplement to the construction-based computer game Minecraft.

Minnesota, US-based food processing firm Cargill purchased the Leonardo olive oil brand from New Delhi, India-based premium wellness food provider Dalmia Continental for an estimated price of INR100 crore.

Massachusetts, US-based enterprise solutions software provider quadrant Software bought Chicago-based Business Computer Design (BCD) Int'l and its British Columbia, Canada-based business partner ExcelSystems Software Development Inc (ESDI) for an undisclosed sum.

Thailand-based online entertainment firm Asiasoft Corporation Public Company Ltd is buying out the entire 30% stake of Philippine-based online game publisher IP E-Game in Level-Up to gain a 70% controlling stake in the latter.

Sydney, Australia-based precious and base metals explorer Robust Resources will raise A$25.5 million via share issue to fund the acquisition of the Talas gold-copper project located in the Kyrgyz Republic.

Paris, France-based hospitality major Accor is aiming to exit its 40% stake in Mumbai, India-based Sofitel hotel in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) and fold the Sofitel brand into itself, according to sources.

Queensland, Australia-based mining and exploration firm Axiom Mining acquired the gold-silver and copper-gold mineralization West Guadalcanal Project located in the Solomon Islands for an undisclosed amount.