After more than 16 years, MSNBC.com is no more. Comcast (which controls NBCUniversal) has acquired Microsoft’s 50 percent stake in the online news site, and its URL now redirects to NBCNews.com. The New York Times reports that Comcast is giving Microsoft roughly $300 million in the deal, citing "people with knowledge of the transaction." MSNBC.com will reportedly return in 2013, but only as the online presence for the MSNBC cable channel.
Bob Visse, general manager for MSN at Microsoft, told The Associated Press, "Being limited to MSNBC.com content was problematic to us because we couldn't have the multiple news sources and the multiple perspectives that our users were telling us that they wanted." Meanwhile, NBC News president Steve Capus told The New York Times, "we think we have a much better opportunity to shape [our digital properties], and frankly grow the news division over all, if we have direct control over all of it." Former NPR CEO and recent NBC hire Vivian Schiller will lead NBCNews.com as part of her role as NBC News' chief digital officer.
Comcast is paying Microsoft about $300 million for its stake, the Times reported, citing anonymous sources. The Times added that a portion of the total price "comes from the joint venture’s past profits. "
Meanwhile, MSNBC.com will relaunch early next year as a "stand-alone site" for the cable network MSNBC.
Microsoft has not had a stake in the cable channel since 2005, but the company still oversaw the ad sales part of the website's business, an arrangement that NBC executives felt hindered their ability to work with advertisers who wanted to buy ads on both the TV newscasts and websites.
“It’s undeniable how big a part of all of our businesses the digital properties are going to be,” Capus said. “We think we have a much better opportunity to shape them, and frankly grow the news division overall, if we have direct control over all of it.”
According to recent comScore data, MSNBC ranks No. 4 among all general news sites in the U.S., with 55.7 million monthly visitors, behind Yahoo-ABC News (89.1 million), Huffington Post (59.4 million) and CNN (57.4 million).
No comments:
Post a Comment