issues were. but really it is not that clear because they say it is an issue not specific to mtgox. and it is a problem for other wallet as well. it is a very specific issue and i think they have a problem with their software. >> i wonder how much of the collapse had to do with what was coming out of russia. can you tell us what it was about not being able to use bitcoin in russia i? banned the usee of bitcoin. it is no longer a communist country but it is a command economy. you are not allowed to be gay there either, apparently. manywant control over as variables as possible. vladimir putin has to be able to have command over variables like currency. you see the same thing happening with chinese with regulatory crackdowns on bitcoin. york,t miller in new

heading to l.a. for the story making waves on the west coast. , a. starbucks a coffee house. they have sprouted out there in l.a.. we are heading out there with jon erlichman, next. ♪ a

>> welcome back. i'm emily chang. this is "bloomberg west your coat this is cory johnson. the story we are talking about all day. dumpster box opening in l.a. over the weekend -- dumb l.a. overopening in the weekend.

jon erlichman has been trying to figure out who is behind this. you are getting clues? checked the filming permits for this wastion and what came back a company called absolute productions which is tied to a couple well-known comics. tim and eric have ties to comedy central programming. a lot of people online have been buzzing about if they are ultimately behind this. we continue to make calls and sniff around. just an art installation. if they are not charging for the coffee that is not that great. people are lining up for hours and hours. new tonightre a show premiering tonight? would this be a great thing for jimmy fallon? be a bad way to go, right?

he is social media savvy. we have asked a lot of people why are you coming here? why am i here? media people, the users of social media -- i heard about it through twitter or facebook and some people, the local media has been covering this. people have a certain curiosity. when you look at these events that take place, people like to be a part of it. cameras thatthe have been here, the people taking pictures on their phones and smiling about it. fallon will be in new york so i don't think it could possibly be him. if it were some other city, i thought it might be are more interesting art parodying the fast food franchise. cameras anywhere? celebrities popping by? beside you, of course.

ini thought i saw a camera the coffee machine earlier, but they have very well-trained baristas. there are two of them. we had fun talking to them earlier trying to get information out of them. ultimately, it will be interesting to watch it starbucks gets really angry. starbucks has made a couple of comments saying, you guys can't really do that. if it turns out it's is tied to one of the big things they have here in hollywood like a television show tom everybody laughs it off. if it is something different, maybe there is an interesting corporate story and a legal battle to watch for. the team ofrised lawyers hasn't showed up there to shut the whole operation down. especially if it has been going on for a few days now.

>> definitely not a lot of suits around. not a lot of anything. the publicity people might somehow show their hand or be involved -- not at all. that is above of the curiosity people have at this event. for a company like starbucks, the challenge of getting too close to a story is maybe they immediately become the story if they say the wrong thing. that is probably part of the story as well. >> what is the next dumb company? dumb burger king? dumb jack in the box? >> dumb mcdonalds. >> mcdonalds might already be dumb as well. >> we might be onto to something, i guess. >> thank you so much for doing the investigating for us. we will be watching this one. aside from dumb starbucks, my

other favorite dumb story of the day -- >> dumb reporters flying in dumb airplanes. >> zero gravity. >> floating in the air. >> i can't believe you did this. luckily, you survived. >> tune in to find out if i gave the vomit comet the treatment that it so deserves. ♪

>> you are watching bloomberg west where we focus on technology and the future of

business. e-commerce giant ali baba is trying to take full control of chinese mapping company, offering to buy 72% of the company it does not already own. the deal is about $1.6 billion. a number of acquisitions in the past year in the run-up to a possible ipo. trouble smelling -- selling smartphones. it could be the lowest since 2009. they're also forecasting a wider than estimated loss. the latest version of the flagship htc one could be released soon in an effort to jumpstart the sale. his wifeerberg and were the nations number one philanthropists last year according to the chronicle of philanthropy. they gave 18 million facebook shares. thanhares are worth more $1.1 billion. it has been a rough weekend for aol's chief and some of the

people he singled out. he apologized for comments he made on an employee conference explaining the decision to tweak the 401(k) benefit. the company has to save money in part because "two things happened in two thousand 12. there were distressed babies and we paid $1 million each to make sure the babies were ok. one of the husbands wrote a column in magazine and she wrote the hardest thing to bear has been the whiff of judgment in his statement." we are joined from new york and i know you have been talking with aol. tim armstrong has apologized and reversed the change. >> the company is not really

commenting beyond the statements that he made where they apologize to aol and the families of the babies that he singled out. he wanted to cut the other 401(k) benefits. singling out the families is what is rubbing everyone the wrong way. they are responsible for those cuts. that is not really the case as far as aol is concerned. >> the family story is heartbreaking but miraculous if you read her column. her name is diana fay. her husband works for the huffington post. she says the daughter has already overcome more setbacks than most of us adore in the span of our lives.

having her existence used as a scapegoat for cutting corporate benefits was one indignity too many. of regrettabled but forgivable mistake a ceo can make? or does this go to show that may be tim armstrong should not be in this job after all? >> it is not the first time that he has put his foot in it. he publicly fired an employee when there were a bunch of other staffers listening to the conference calls as well. the ceo executives that i also he islike rupert murdoch, an outspoken person as well. in fact, as journalists, we like it when ceos are upfront. to learn toas got not talk too much if this is the thing that he wants to avoid in the future. >> when i interviewed tim

armstrong, i found him to be a straight shooter. aol, it was over sort of a no-nonsense approach. overall, has he been good for aol? >> he has been. he has turned the company around, improve the advertising, improved it from a creaky dial-up service. they still have 2.5 million people paying to login through telephone for some reason. he transported from that to our premium publishing content play that gets big advertising dollars. has been very upfront and trying to be refreshing in terms of what he is trying to do with the company. in that way, he has definitely been there in terms of understanding the strategy. it is good to see that upfront.

you so much for bringing us your perspective on bloomberg west. aol acquired the online identity website in 2010 just a week after the site's launch. the founders back the company at a fraction of the cost that aol paid for it. a year after the buyback, did aol missed the boat? , coryitor at large johnson. >> what can aol do with the things it's got? tony conrad joins me now. aol acquires the business, doesn't find the way to monetize it. what was it like? just goneiness had public. they were exploring a lot of different things and they took a chance on us. we were a four-day old company. and weduct just launched

got there, we realized the focus is on media. wasn't really a great fit so we worked with them constructively and we were able to spin it back out. >> what was tim armstrong like in this conference? lot to this speaks a what kind of ceo tim armstrong is. >> i think 10 is awesome, to be honest with you. to be honestsome, with you. he is quick to assess if the risk makes sense. him to it was hard for let us spend back down. >> he was willing to buy it. he did not want to spend shareholders money. >> i think it was a good risk that he took and he is still inequitable or in the company. i think it will work out well for him in the long run.

>> what were you able to do that they were not able to do? >> we solved what was the fundamental problem around engagement. what reason do you have? a great page presenting yourself. it is a tool for discovering the people that are interested in you. >> was aol not getting the development focus? >> there were not integration opportunities. it was off the coast there. it seems to be better served if they were independent and better served about the growing motions , fusing motions with progress. customers doesn't

make any sense. those become high-quality customers. >> yahoo! has seen user numbers change. >> engagement and monetization doesn't always go hand-in-hand. type of value you can derive from your user base, it doesn't mean that there is not a lag between getting engaged users and creating that value on the backend. we don't really have a revenue model in place today. there is a clear sense of what the revenue model will be but now is not the right time. it was probably the end of this year or the beginning of next.

we appreciate your time. global gaming sensation flappy bird is gone from the app store and fans are furious. we look into why the games developer pulled the app, coming up. ♪

back to "bloomberg west." flappy bird fans are furious after the game was pulled from the apple and google app stores over the weekend. the vietnamese developer removed flappy bird himself, tweeting that it ruined his simple life and he simply cannot take it anymore. the game is not available, i want to play it. it was the top app in the app store. >> flappy bird basically was a

game where you navigate a bird through pipes. it was very similar to nintendo's super mario brothers from years and years ago. very simple game, very easy graphics. was ridiculously hard. it was one of those people -- one of those things that people were addicted to. >> the guy said that he was making $350,000 a week. >> aren't games supposed to be hearty echo >> -- to be hard? >> it is really hard. the one thing that is interesting with most of these buy games, you can your way to happiness. >> just like life. but in this game, you couldn't. you make your way through this to buyhere was no way

currency or any cheats to help you through the game. >> he was also criticized for copying other game makers? thatere were rumors nintendo had sent a cease and desist letter to them. nintendo denied that pretty hotly. they have denied it up and down to every news outlet thas o of two and a half years and make it really pretty. but this thing or tamagochi, space invaders, it's about gameplay. the co o a couple hours. ofis guy develops this ge in nintendo with 5000 employees is stggli tmes that appeal to peopl not si think he"n even

death threats. because the game was so hard and they were blaming him. lex may be from the birds. [laughter] that is taking it t extremes. we will see if it comes back to life. it with edwards, thank you. break, thister the video is awesome. cory did something really cool. >> you want to see if i got sick. there i am. >> i love it. you do look a little scary. ♪

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>> welcome back to "bloomberg west." -- did you ever want to know what it is like to be an astronaut or er a companyg

signed a partnership with virgin galactic that will bring people to outer space. experience, flyingpu people into parabolic flight known as the vomit comet. you know i am terrified of heights. i got -- check it out. right now, this is one7 of the most enjoyable moments of my life. but it wasn't always that way. just a few minutes ago, i looks like this. -- i looked like this. the wrong person to be doing this zero g flight. zero g virgin galactic for passengers that

already purchased tickets on one acclimat-ed to the experience f weightlessness.