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News Corp. enlists help of investment bank to offload IGN

A

Archie

Second-rate Anihawk
The original article is in the Wall Street Journal. Unfortunately, I do not have a subscription so I am using another article from VG24/7.

http://www.vg247.com/2012/10/16/news-corp-enlists-help-of-investment-bank-to-offload-ign/

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that News Corp. has enlisted the help of investment bank Allen & Co. in order to auction off IGN after several attempts to find a buyer.

The report states News Corp. is looking to offload its videogame and entertainment websites via auction after “initial sale efforts failed to produce a deal.”

WSJ cites sources close to both sides of the matter.

Talks have been held with potential buyers over the course of the year, but a deal could not be reached.

WSJ expects IGN to go for around $100 million, well down on the $650 million News Corp. paid in 2005 for a number of sites which included IGN.com, UGO Entertainment, GameSpy.com and TeamXbox.com – several of which have already been sold or closed.

Break Media and SAY Media are just two of the larger groups reportedly to have shown interest. Others interested parties included private equity funds.

News Corp. sold Myspace last year for $35 million. It paid $580 million for the social networking site six years earlier.

IGN chief executive Roy Bahat resigned from in August. News Corp.’s chief digital officer, Jon Miller, resigned a few days later.
Click to expand...
 
H

Hot Coldman

Banned
It'd be neat if there was some way for them to buy independence, and try and shake themselves up- going from buyer to buyer probably won't be good for them long-term.

See: 1up.com.
 
T

toythatkills

Member
Green Scar said:
It'd be neat if there was some way for them to buy independence, and try and shake themselves up- going from buyer to buyer probably won't be good for them long-term.
Click to expand...

Kickstarter goal: $100m

malfcn said:
Between Myspace and IGN, how much did Newscorp lose? Damn.
Click to expand...

Who says they lost money? They sold it for less than they bought it, but they could easily have made money in those six years. (I doubt they did, but there's more to it than x=y)
 
R

RedNumberFive

Banned
They can offload it here:

C2D+Dumpster.jpg
 
K

KojiKnight

Member
t26 said:
So they want to sell IGN for more than what they got for myspace?
Click to expand...

No, they wanted much more than that 100 mill, but they are settling for what will likely be only 100 mill for it... and let's be fair, with how badly myspace crashed they are lucky they got that much for it.
 
T

theytookourjobz

Junior Member
I heard recently that 95% of the media is owned by 5 companies. This is not surprising and is probably a drop in the bucket for NewsCorp. Sucks for everyone at IGN though. I like most of the personalities there.
 
F

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Man, no wonder some people bailed in the last year or so.

It's weird though, since they apparently just moved offices and whatnot recently.
 
K

KojiKnight

Member
Hazaro said:
Shit, what happens to IPL ( IGN Pro League )?
Click to expand...

Likely nothing till a new buyer is found, then the buyer will decide... Going on auction someone will get them (unless they have a ridiculously high minimum) and if they don't get any takers they'll likely dismantle it and start selling it's contracts, rights to IGN name, etc.
 
G

gryz

Banned
IGN has always been pretty bad ever since they took over PSXPOWER.COM, but it seems like they have been at new levels of shittiness as of late.
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
I haven't browsed IGN in a long time, go other places to get my news, and far far away for my reviews.

Historically, they have been very corrupt.
 
O

Omega

Banned
Why would anyone pay that much for IGN? the site is atrocious..

at least people still use myspace and they only got 65mil out of that
 
shira

shira

Member
KojiKnight said:
Do you think that Gaf collectively holds 100 million in loose cash?
Click to expand...
Well outside of their advertising/marketing division those clowns wouldn't make much.

Anyone with outside cred has already left. I don't see Apple headhunting Sam Claiborne anytime soon.
 
F

FStop7

Banned
While I gleefully bask in the failures of News Corp I do wonder what this means for the future of CBSi. I doubt their business can be doing that much better.
 
F

Forever

Banned
Murdoch really shit the bed with his online acquisitions. Did any of them pan out? Myspace being the biggest loser, obviously.
 
B

BlazinAm

Junior Member
Both IGN and Gamespot are hoping that e-sports will be their big revenue generator over the next couple of years, I would assume that takes a more focal point on the front page of both sites. I believe that IGN is noted to be profitable but was part of a bigger division that was dragging it down for years at New Corp.
 
I

IC_Champion

Member
Predictable Murdoch, he'll buy something that makes him look big, and if that acquisition doesn't interest him any more, he'll toss it away.
 
H

Hero_of_the_Day

Member
They need to redesign the whole site to a simpler, more pleasant layout. Their new review pages hurt my eyes, it's like I'm looking at a magazine someone scanned.
 
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