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CBS Interactive (GameSpot parent company) buys Giant Bomb

K

Knux-Future

Banned
Terrell said:
Yeah, cuz CBS Interactive is the only company in the world covering video games with some cash in the bank. Srsly.

Had it been ANY OTHER COMPANY IN THE WORLD, this somehow wouldn't seem so completely fucking stupid.
Click to expand...

Say what you will about Gamespot, they are still around. CBSi is obviously doing something right.

Look if it's the whole Jeff stuff that's your issue, then look at it this way..Jeff got over it and is obviously cool with going back. These guys aren't stupid, so I'm sure they weighed the alternatives and this was the best choice...

If there is something else you hate about CBSi then that's another story as I don't know or care about the whole Big Bad Company stuff.
 
M

Mr. Enigma

Member
shadyspace said:
I've thought of Patrick the most during this whole situation. How odd for it must be for him, being the most recent hire, not even around for a year, and facing this big move. A move that is a hugely symbolic one to all your coworkers, but not you. He definitely stands apart in all of this.
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Which is hilarious because when he took the job, he said the reason he wanted to work for Giant Bomb was because he was sick of moving around every year.
 
I

infinityBCRT

Member
Terrell said:
Yeah, cuz CBS Interactive is the only company in the world covering video games with some cash in the bank. Srsly.

Had it been ANY OTHER COMPANY IN THE WORLD, this somehow wouldn't seem so completely fucking stupid. I don't give a shit who you are, shit-talking someone for a lack of integrity and then taking their dirty money later is bordering on hypocrisy. Obviously, their behavior wasn't so fucking terrible if the bribe money from review scores is worth taking.
Click to expand...

Wow really? CBS Interactive didn't even own GameSpot when Jeff was fired.
 
M

Mr. Enigma

Member
Terrell said:
Yeah, cuz CBS Interactive is the only company in the world covering video games with some cash in the bank. Srsly.

Had it been ANY OTHER COMPANY IN THE WORLD, this somehow wouldn't seem so completely fucking stupid. I don't give a shit who you are, shit-talking someone for a lack of integrity and then taking their dirty money later is bordering on hypocrisy. Obviously, their behavior wasn't so fucking terrible if the bribe money from review scores is worth taking.
Click to expand...

Lmao. Do some fucking research, junior.

None of the people involved with firing Jeff work there anymore. In fact, CBS Interactive didn't even own CNET when Jeff was fired. They bought CNET while Giant Bomb was still in beta. The guy who directly fired Jeff was fired when CBSi took over.
 
M

MikeE21286

Member
Booshka said:
John Davison makes this okay.









Hopefully.
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John definitely makes it feel safe because he's not an ass-hat like it sounds like the previous management was.

He seems to understand how important organizational culture is and he always let the crew at 1up have personalities and freedoms (im sure he even fostered it to a larger extent). What changes John implements will most likely be in the best interest of the GB crew and will be a collaborative affair.

tl;dr John's good people. It should all be OK
 
B

Booshka

Member
MikeE21286 said:
John definitely makes it feel safe because he's not an ass-hat like it sounds like the previous management was.

He seems to understand how important organizational culture is and he always let the crew at 1up have personalities and freedoms (im sure he even fostered it to a larger extent). What changes John implements will most likely be in the best interest of the GB crew and will be a collaborative affair.

tl;dr John's good people. It should all be OK
Click to expand...

As long as he doesn't leave and the Giantbomb crew has to deal with a new group of inept management, which is how it all started in the first place.
 
T

Terrell

Member
AnEternalEnigma said:
Lmao. Do some fucking research, junior.

None of the people involved with firing Jeff work there anymore. In fact, CBS Interactive didn't even own CNET when Jeff was fired. They bought CNET while Giant Bomb was still in beta. The guy who directly fired Jeff was fired when CBSi took over.
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Considering CBS Interactive bought CNet and was aware of the practices occurring there, until you can tell me that they gutted the entire upper management chain that approved of the events leading to the Gamespot debacle, you're reaching just as far into "no research" territory as I am by making the assumption that everything will be anything more than business as usual. So a middle manager for one arm of CNet's content was fired due to the bad publicity he generated. Corporate entities do this all the time to avoid further bad press without actually fixing the root of any given problem, especially if that "problem" nets a pretty penny in the process.
 
M

MikeE21286

Member
Booshka said:
As long as he doesn't leave and the Giantbomb crew has to deal with a new group of inept management, which is how it all started in the first place.
Click to expand...

This is a good point. Outside of 1up/EGM his track record doesn't necessarily scream of a guy that stays in one place for long.
 
S

sonicmj1

Member
Terrell said:
Considering CBS Interactive bought CNet and was aware of the practices occurring there, until you can tell me that they gutted the entire upper management chain that approved of the events leading to the Gamespot debacle, you're reaching just as far into "no research" territory as I am by making the assumption that everything will be anything more than business as usual. So a middle manager for one arm of CNet's content was fired due to the bad publicity he generated. Corporate entities do this all the time to avoid further bad press without actually fixing the root of any given problem, especially if that "problem" nets a pretty penny in the process.
Click to expand...

Ryan said that the entire management staff of 2007-era Gamespot doesn't work in the industry anymore.

Seems like a pretty thorough house-cleaning.

MikeE21286 said:
This is a good point. Outside of 1up/EGM his track record doesn't necessarily scream of a guy that stays in one place for long.
Click to expand...

If Davison leaves CBS, I might start worrying about Giant Bomb.

Other things that would make me start worrying:
- Staff at one site reviewing games at the other site.
- Anything happening to the Bombcast.
- Forums/accounts being pushed together.
- The loss of the Giant Bomb video player.
- Vinny mysteriously disappearing after following a Craigslist ad for a Novint Falcon.
 
M

Mr. Enigma

Member
Terrell said:
Considering CBS Interactive bought CNet and was aware of the practices occurring there, until you can tell me that they gutted the entire upper management chain that approved of the events leading to the Gamespot debacle, you're reaching just as far into "no research" territory as I am by making the assumption that everything will be anything more than business as usual. So a middle manager for one arm of CNet's content was fired due to the bad publicity he generated. Corporate entities do this all the time to avoid further bad press without actually fixing the root of any given problem, especially if that "problem" nets a pretty penny in the process.
Click to expand...

What the fuck do motives have to do with anything? That's just a fucking technical detail. The bottom line is the people who fired him aren't even in the industry anymore. Nothing else fucking matters. It doesn't matter why they were canned. What you're saying is just as ridiculous and dumbfounded as the angle you're trying to make about my statement. It's obvious you have a biased viewpoint based on your first statement and won't take the time to think about it objectively. In your mind, it's just, "OMG JEFF SOLD OUT RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE TO THE SAME PEOPLE WHO FIRED HIM" even though they aren't the same people so your opinions instantly have no credibility. You win the title of most short-sighted poster in this thread so far.
 
B

Booshka

Member
I loved Jeff's reference to Wayne's World of recreating the Whiskey Media basement at the Gamespot offices.

"That's not Wayne's basement."
 
M

MikeE21286

Member
Amory said:
edit: found it.
Click to expand...

The way I read it:

Inexperienced upper management buckled under the (not-so-uncommon) potential hints/threats of losing advertising based on several somewhat lower review scores (mainly Ratchet : FToD and Kane & Lynch).

Now Jeff only wrote the K&L review, but he was editorial director and all reviews were basically done under his watch
 
Amory

Amory

Member
AnEternalEnigma said:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=36072952&postcount=4566
Click to expand...

MikeE21286 said:
The way I read it:

Inexperienced upper management buckled under the (not-so-uncommon) potential hints/threats of losing advertising based on several somewhat lower review scores (mainly Ratchet : FToD and Kane & Lynch).

Now Jeff only wrote the K&L review, but he was editorial director and all reviews were basically done under his watch
Click to expand...

Thanks

Well, I guess I don't really know how to feel about all this until I see for myself that nothing changes, or that when things do change, it's only for the better. The indie feel of giant bomb (and the whole arrow pointing down thing before that) was what really drew me in. But I love their content, and I'm sure I'll continue to love it.

I'm definitely happy for their success, no one deserves it more.
 
H

ha1f

Member
I ran into Tony a block away from the new building (apparently his "first time" in there) and saw the GB guys waiting at the front desk (there's a basket ball hoop where I normally sit when I eat lunch in there...). Tony was stoked, and everyone looked pretty happy to be in there. Huge congrats to them.
 
Z

ZanzibarBreeze

Member
Jeff now has editorial input on GameSpot and GameFAQs. Guy's moving up in the world; for all we know, if John Davison ever decides to move on, Jeff might be taking his place. But I don't know how that stuff works.

Also, John looked super tired and out of energy in that video while Jeff was completely hyper. It made for weird viewing.

There's a rumor (that's probably already been mentioned here) on Jeff's Wikipedia page that he owns a $20 million stake in some company, either Giant Bomb or Whiskey Media. If so, that's... bank. (As we know, Wikipedia is gospel.)
 
M

MikeE21286

Member
While the business side of how the deal went down is interesting as hell, we'll never know exactly how it all transpired. $20 million seems kind of absurd, but who knows...
 
H

hamchan

Member
ZanzibarBreeze said:
There's a rumor (that's probably already been mentioned here) on Jeff's Wikipedia page that he owns a $20 million stake in some company, either Giant Bomb or Whiskey Media. If so, that's... bank. (As we know, Wikipedia is gospel.)
Click to expand...

That would be crazy. Would explain why he can afford to buy Star Trek Online lifetime subscriptions.
 
Z

ZanzibarBreeze

Member
Yaboosh said:
$20 million sounds ludicrous. No way Whiskey Media as a whole was even worth that much.
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I completely agree with you -- I just don't understand how that sum arose -- unless Whiskey Media sold at a very high price. Look at who the buyers are; CBS and BermanBraun aren't slouches. I guess Whiskey Media had pretty major recognition and cred in the business world, including fine, fine, fine sources like Time Magazine.

Still, that figure is so astronomically high as to be unbelievable.

But it would explain why Jeff was grinning from ear to ear.
 
D

Dizzy-4U

Member
ZanzibarBreeze said:
There's a rumor (that's probably already been mentioned here) on Jeff's Wikipedia page that he owns a $20 million stake in some company, either Giant Bomb or Whiskey Media. If so, that's... bank. (As we know, Wikipedia is gospel.)
Click to expand...
Trackmania 2 server will be financed forever. Way to go Jeff!!!
 
R

RotBot

Member
No way on the $20 million stake. TechCrunch, which gets close to 10x the traffic of Giantbomb only sold for $25 million.
 
Z

ZanzibarBreeze

Member
For what it's worth, the user that added the $20 million line on Jeff's page didn't have a user name, only an IP address. They dropped that bomb and made edits to Giant Bomb. They also made edits to Late-2000s recession. Dude knows business.

The user wrote that Giant Bomb was "acquired by CBS interactive in March 2012 for a rumoured US $40 million."

If so, $20 million could be believable. Who gets the other $20?
 
J

Jasper Avenue

Member
I doubt it's $20 million but I'm pretty sure Jeff made out really well with this deal. Do you guys know if any of the other guys had any ownership in the sites? It seems like Dave did and I'm assuming Ryan might have?
 
B

Blackface

Banned
That sucks for them.

As someone who knows people who worked for CBS when they basically ran all of radio. Good luck on having an original opinion about anything. If Gertsman thought Gamespot was bad, then Giant Bomb is fucked.
 
R

RotBot

Member
ZanzibarBreeze said:
For what it's worth, the user that added the $20 million line on Jeff's page didn't have a user name, only an IP address. They dropped that bomb and made edits to Giant Bomb. They also made edits to Late-2000s recession. Dude knows business.

The user wrote that Giant Bomb was "acquired by CBS interactive in March 2012 for a rumoured US $40 million."

If so, $20 million could be believable. Who gets the other $20?
Click to expand...

Dude doesn't provide any citations on either page, so I undid his edit.
 
T

TheExecutive

Member
Lol would be SHOCKED if anything or anyone at GiantBomb went for $20 million. The only way that happened is if CBS put a ton of investment in it and it is unlikely after an acquisition of this type unless they are going to fundamentally change the way GB does business.

To proclaim that much after the buying of a company is unheard of unless there is a split.
 
H

hamchan

Member
ZanzibarBreeze said:
For what it's worth, the user that added the $20 million line on Jeff's page didn't have a user name, only an IP address. They dropped that bomb and made edits to Giant Bomb. They also made edits to Late-2000s recession. Dude knows business.

The user wrote that Giant Bomb was "acquired by CBS interactive in March 2012 for a rumoured US $40 million."

If so, $20 million could be believable. Who gets the other $20?
Click to expand...

Shelby Bonnie probably owns most of Whiskey. Shouldn't Ryan also get a cut from this?
 
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