Well, there's no use beating around the bush: this week was a bloodbath for (many) Internet media stocks. Investors could blame the week on Apple (AAPL) which stunned investors by reporting a messy quarter. A shortfall in iPhone sales and a weak European economy were paired against a quarter that saw massive iPad momentum (market research firm IDC raised its iPad forecast while turning down estimates for Android tablets). Apple announced it had sold 17 million iPads in the June quarter, beating Wall Street numbers by 1 million. That's 84% y/y growth, but apparently not enough for investors. The stock sold off about 4.5% on the earnings news.

How do you get the media's attention? Hire someone no one thought you could get and then report some really mixed numbers everyone's grown to expect. Oh, and top it off with a pregnancy.

Dentsu is making a cash offer for Aegis (AEGSF) at 240p per share. This values the firm at 3.16 billion GBP, a whopping 48% premium from Wednesday's close. Japan's Dentsu already owned around 30% of the UK advertising agency and Deutsche Bank analyst Patrick Kirby doesn't see much chance of a counter offer coming in from WPP or Publicis. This news means Dentsu becomes a real player on a global field, especially in the UK and the Americas, something the DB analyst believes will happen more gradually over time. It also means Havas and MDC Partners are in play, as both remain feasible M&A candidates

With the quiet period over, there was a deluge of initiation reports on Facebook (FB). The recent, massive social media IPO had been caught in a tempest of agitation around the IPO process, technology, and investment banking. Now, the spotlights on the stock itself and Wall Street is mixed in its admiration of the Internet juggernaut.

After we wrote about the Barclays Search Advertising Trends conference call last week, the bank was out with some clear takeaways for investors in the space.

Advertising appears to be looking up. Or at least it does to Pivotal's Brian Wieser. He's out with a research piece on the entire industry, introducing forecasts all the way out to 2017. The media analyst believes that advertising will grow 2.4% this year, revised up from 1% as marketers outspend economic growth. Estimates could have topped 3%, but he expects "that nervousness among marketers in the period leading up to the fall elections will restrain expansion because of the looming 'fiscal cliff.'" (Jack Myers Media Business Report's 2010-2020 Media/Marketing Economic Data and Forecasts are available to subscribers at www.jackmyers.com)

News flow was concentrated on larger, macroeconomic concerns this week, with the media industry taking a backseat to what was going on in Europe.

Well, it's been a wild ride for investors in Facebook (FB). The social network's $16 billion IPO two weeks ago so far stands as its greatest achievement. After pricing at $38, it's been nowhere but down for the stock, slumping over 30%. As the smoke is clearing, fingers are being pointed in various directions to assign blame.

Well, the stock hasn't settled in yet and we've already gotten our first initiation piece on Facebook (FB). Needham's Laura Martin was one of the first out of the gate to publish on the record-setting IPO and she likes the stock. Specifically, she thinks the shares are "an option on the World." Her model values FB by measuring average time spent on the social network and multiplying it by "its powerful margin expansion engine." With 900M users spending a total of 14% of all time spent online globally on Facebook itself, she sees room for growth. She's initiating with a BUY rating and a $40 PT.