CBS Interactive To Merge CBSNews.com and CNET Newsrooms; Some Layoffs

CBS To Merge CNET, CBSNews.com Newsrooms (CBS)

from Silicon Alley Insider by Nicholas Carlson

CBS (CBS) finally found redunancies between CBS Interactive and $1.8 billion acquisition CNET and will today announce it's merging the CBSNews.com and CNET newsrooms.

Paidcontent says there will be layoffs, but doesn't have a number.

Ealier this week, we learned CNET exec Mickey Wilson will take the top marketing seat in the combined company, pushing out CBS Interactive's former CMO Patrick Keane.

On Wednesday, CBS topper Les Moonves said that though CNET and CBS Interactive will earn $1 billion in revenues by 2010, he wouldn't do the deal again today.

'The CNET deal was in May. Life was very different," Moonves told a conference audience. "We would not be doing that acquisition today.'

CBS Interactive To Merge CBSNews.com and CNET Newsrooms; Some Layoffs

by Rafat Ali

CBS Interactive (NYSE: CBS), under pressure to cut costs after what now seems like an even more costly acquisition of CNET, is announcing some more restructuring tomorrow, we have learned from reliable sources late tonight, and as part of it, will be merging CBSNews.com and CNET newsrooms. Not clear: if it is merging the two main websites CBSNews.com and News.com. As a result of this merger, there will also be some layoffs, but we couldn't figure out the extent of those.

CBSNews.com did do some layoffs a year ago, slicing its staff by 15-20 employees, roughly 30 percent, among other smaller cuts. The CBSNews.com site has been among the smallest efforts from any TV news division, and now that CNET brought with it a better online infrastructure and a great domain name with News.com, likely they will finally capitalize on it and broaden the mandate beyond tech...