Today News Corp. made it official: Fox Interactive Media Agrees to Acquire Photobucket and Flektor, Inc.
A couple of years ago, Rupert Murdoch told the world that he was earmarking $2B to invest in digital media, technology etc. He then made a series of deals, effectively becoming my boss in the process:
- MySpace parent Intermix: $580M
- IGN (my former employer): $650M
- Scout: $60M
- Strategic Data: $?M
- Photobucket: $250-300M (reported, but unofficial)
- Flektor: $15-20M (reported, but unofficial)
Combining it all does not even add up to $2B… though we don’t know how much it paid for either Flektor or SD, but the point is, Murdoch is getting back $900M from Google over the next couple of years, and FIM is now on pace to make $500M in revenue this year…
Was the earmarked $2B worth it?
Two years later - and roughly $2B spent - his Fox Interactive Media is the “Web’s most-viewed network in the U.S. with more than 45 billion page views per month. The group’s properties include MySpace, IGN Entertainment, FOXSports.com, AmericanIdol.com and others.”
You better believe it.
Murdoch did to the three kings of new media (Yahoo!, Time Warner’s AOL and Microsoft’s MSN) what he did to old media (Walt Disney’s ABC, GE’s NBC and CBS) with the introduction of FOX, he became a player through sheer willpower.
Love him, hate him… the man walks around with a swagger and he isn’t all talk.
And, his company is the only one - other than MSFT - in the running to acquire Facebook.
Mark my words.
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