Advertising

For a day, a Baltimore company had IPO fever. Fast-growing Millennial Media Inc., a Baltimore-based mobile advertising company, sold shares to the public Thursday, breaking a years-long IPO drought in the city's technology sector. It ended the day valued at $1.87 billion. The company's CEO, Paul Palmieri, rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Shares immediately shot up to $25 in early trading, nearly double the initial opening price of $13. The stock ended the day at $25 after peaking at $27.90 in the morning.

The more science discovers how the mind works, the less rational humans are revealed to be. We make many important decisions, including choosing a mate and buying a car, based more on emotion than reason. On top of that, our reason is often fatally flawed — even for the smartest among us — as outlined by psychologist Daniel Kahneman in his fascinating 2011 book, "Thinking, Fast and Slow. " He shows that the structure of our thinking, guided by what he labels System 1 and System 2, makes it impossible for us to be impartial actors guided strictly by empiricism.

A western Maryland man has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for urging members of a child pornography network to make and share images of exploited children. Thirty-six-year-old Matthew Sluss of Rawlings was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. He had pleaded guilty in June to one count of interstate advertising of child pornography. According to court records, Sluss used peer-to-peer computer file-sharing technology to share tens of thousands of forbidden photos and videos with more than 70 online friends.

Though national advertisers are fleeing Rush Limbaugh after he called a birth control activist a slut, Baltimore seems immune to the exodus. Executives at WCBM, 680 AM, the affiliate that airs the Rush Limbaugh show locally, said Tuesday that not a single advertiser has dropped out. According to promotions director Eddie Applefeld, the worst that's happened is the station has fielded "about 30" phone calls. And traffic to the station's website spiked about 25 percent -- if that's a problem.

The fallout of Rush Limbaugh calling a law student a "slut" and a "prostitute" for advocating insurance coverage for birth control continues: AOL pulled its advertising money from his radio show, according to a Facebook update by the technology company . (AOL has a major division, Advertising.com, in Baltimore.) Per AOL, two hours ago on its FB page, which has 279,000+ followers: At AOL one of our core values is that we act with integrity. We have monitored the unfolding events and have determined that Mr. Limbaugh's comments are not in line with our values.

Baltimore TechBreakfasts have been going on each month for almost a year and I have yet to attend one. These events are part networking, part "learn about new startups," part "promote yourself over bagels and coffee. " They start a little early -- 8 a.m. -- and I've always been busy getting my three kids out the door and to daycare. But this Wednesday's event is on my calendar. It's an ambitious program that entrepreneur Ron Schmelzer, BTB organizer, has put together. Unfortunately for the non-RSVP'ed, it's a full event.

Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group said net income fell 31 percent in the fourth quarter, with earnings missing analysts' estimates by 4 cents per share. The broadcasting company on Wednesday reported net income of $22.7 million, or 28 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Dec. 31, compared to net income of $33.1 million, or 41 cents per share, in the last three months of 2010. The company declared a quarterly dividend of 12 cents per share. Analysts had expected earnings of 32 cents per share on revenue of $211.34 million.

Judy Berman was named senior vice president of sales and marketing for the Baltimore Sun Media Group on Monday, a position that will give her oversight of all advertising sales for the company's print and digital products. "Given the importance of growing revenue, Judy's marketing and business acumen, knowledge of direct marketing and expertise in leveraging data to increase revenue are among the many reasons she is perfect for the job," CEO and Publisher Timothy E. Ryan said in announcing Berman's expanded role.

The state is kicking off a $150,000 campaign to advertise financing help for small businesses in Maryland. The state Department of Business and Economic Development said Tuesday that it will be running ads — online and on radio stations for 10 weeks — to spread the word that four of the state's financing programs still have money to extend after receiving $23 million in federal funding through the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. The state, which has spent or earmarked about $1.3 million since getting the OK to start using the money last June, has until 2018 to allocate it all. The "Financing that Fits" campaign advertises the Maryland Small Business Development Financing Authority, which gives credit guarantees; the Maryland Industrial Development Financing Authority, which gives loan guarantees; the Maryland Venture Fund, which invests in startup companies; and Neighborhood Business Works, which provides gap financing.