In fact, Yahoo was reportedly one of several potential buyers of MarketWatch, which quietly put itself up for sale last month. Under CEO Terry Semel, who has a Hollywood background, Yahoo has struck content deals with the likes of Sony and others aimed at bringing premium content to broadband users willing to pay extra for it. Yahoo might feel that having its own source of content is a competitive necessity as portal wars set up with MSN and AOL, which has the advantage of a deep pool of Time Warner content from which to draw. In fact, MarketWatch is a contributor of content to its business and financial news papers. One of Yahoo’s strongest paid-subscription areas has traditionally been its premium finance news services, targeted to active stock traders.
Yahoo did not say what role Budde would play at the company. Earlier this month, Yahoo hired an ABC entertainment division executive and charged him with bringing more unique content to the portal. To date, Yahoo has used its portal to aggregate news from various sources - much as competitor Google does with its Google News site. Since Budde is credited with creating the online edition of the world’s foremost business newspaper, it might also indicate more interest in creating content. The separate move by Yahoo, to hire former Wall Street Journal Online editor Neil Budde, might suggest that Yahoo knew it would have a battle on its hands in the online business news space. “This transaction supports our mission to be the market leader in licensed and advertising supported financial news and information,” Kramer said in a statement announcing the deal. With some $56 million in cash on hand at MarketWatch factored in, the real value of the deal is closer to $448 million.įounder and CEO Larry Kramer said having the backing of Dow Jones gives MarketWatch “a terrific platform to grow our business and compete with the largest media companies.” The sale price represents a premium of more than 7 percent over Friday’s closing price. In separate moves that suggest strong desire among media giants to position themselves in the online news and information fields, Dow Jones agreed to buy MarketWatch in a deal worth US$519 million, while Yahoo announced it had hired a former Wall Street Journal Online executive to head its own news division.ĭow Jones will pay $18 per share in cash to acquire MarketWatch, the parent company of and a longtime leader in the online delivery of hard financial news, such as stock quotes and earnings reports.
0 kommentar(er)
