CBS to buy CNET for $1.8 billion
Michael Gay May 15th, 2008
CBS Interactive is making its largest digital acquisition ever, buying CNET Networks for $1.8 billion, according to the NY Times. This price tops the $1.6 billion that YouTube sold for to Google.
“There are very few opportunities to acquire a profitable, growing, well-managed Internet company like CNET Networks,” he said in a press release Thursday. “Together, CBS and CNET Networks will have significant additional exposure to the fastest-growing advertising sector and can accelerate our growth through a number of new content, promotion and advertising initiatives.”
CNET Networks includes cnet.com, bnet.com, news.com, tv.com, gamespot.com, mp3.com and search.com, among others.
Update: The acquisition will make CBS one of the 10 most popular Internet companies in the U.S. Says Les Moonves in an interview with PaidContent, “You see what we can do with integration, we can do with TV.com, News.com, the local things we can do with UrbanBaby and Chow, where we have a great deal of local presence on the CBS side, and the integration of CBS Sports with CNET and GameSport, the male-oriented sites.” So it looks like the local CBS O&Os will benefit from some content as well as some exposure.
Plus: Why the deal makes sense for CBS, and conversely, why it’s the “worst M&A deal of the year.” Let us know what you think in comments…
12 Comments Add your own
1. anon | May 15th, 2008 at 7:31 am
They paid a $45ps premium from yesterday’s close; nonetheless in the long term this could do a great deal for CBS and might be seen as a perfect move if they manage to leverage all of CNETs assets and reach.
2. discreet_chaos | May 15th, 2008 at 8:04 am
I have to say that I’ve always been envious of the fact that CNET had the foresight to get some of those URLs before I had realized their value. I don’t know how much the CNET content machine may be worth, but a lot of those addresses could be gold.
3. tdc | May 15th, 2008 at 8:19 am
paidcontent mentioned cnet sold them radio(dotcom), too
while the current debate is between tv/newspapers duking it out online, does anyone else think that leaves a great opportunity for radio folks???
4. tdc | May 15th, 2008 at 8:33 am
and in related news, iac’s ask(dotcom) has purchased dictionary(dotcom), thesaurus(dotcom) and reference(dotcom).
i guess dinosaur(dotcom) was not available as part of the deal.
5. tdc | May 15th, 2008 at 9:11 am
i’ve been trying to think of that wonderful hostess’s last name who did the c-net daily tech thingy awhile back.
she went over to mahalo and has since gone elsewhere.
veronica ?????????????
if she had been part of the cnet/cbs deal they would have been getting another good asset.
6. tdc | May 15th, 2008 at 9:13 am
belmont.
just came to me.
thanks anyways.
7. David Johnson | May 15th, 2008 at 9:35 am
i bet news.com is dead man walking. gizmodo and engadget must be partying hard right now.
8. tdc | May 15th, 2008 at 11:33 am
just had a longtime friend call me out of the blue on this cnet/cbs takeover and remind me…
“remember when i sold halsey that yacht?”
click tdc and poke around awhile.
9. John | May 15th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
So what if they move all the news.com content over to cnet.com and give news.com to cbsnews…. Nice domain for a news website.
And so is TV.com. Perfect place to stream all of their cbs shows online.
10. B | May 15th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
CBS should walk in the door and fire half of the “on-air” talent at Cnet. Some of those people are just awful.
I agree, news.com pretty much becoming news.com is a big coup for CBS.
Then again, cnet hasn’t been able to capitalize on these bad ass domain names why would CBS be able to do anything with them?
11. Michael Gay | May 16th, 2008 at 5:20 am
And let’s remember, weather.com is up for sale right now too, and CBS is in the running for it.
12. Gorman | May 16th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Just don’t mess with my Buzz Out Loud.
Leave a Comment
(Please keep URLs out of the comment body or the spam filter will block you.)Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed