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.' 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...CBS To Merge CNET, CBSNews.com Newsrooms (CBS)
from Silicon Alley Insider by
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.
CBS Interactive To Merge CBSNews.com and CNET Newsrooms; Some Layoffs
by
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.
Dec 11, 2008
CBS Interactive To Merge CBSNews.com and CNET Newsrooms; Some Layoffs
Oct 30, 2008
CBS Earnings As Bad As Promised: Local Ads Kill TV, Online Ads Up 12% (CBS)
Interactive revenues remained a small fraction of the company's overall sales, increasing to $140.7 million from $35.9 million, due mainly to the CNET acquisition. Include CNET in last year's results and revenues grew 6% on a 12% gain in display advertising. CBS television revenues were $2.1 billion, up 2% over the prior year. Poor ad revenues dragged on higher television license fees (thank you CSI: New York), home entertainment and affiliate revenues partially offset by lower advertising sales. Radio revenues tanked, down 12% to $392.5 million from $445.7 million on divestitures and a weak ad market. The company reiterated a cautious outlook amid a sharp downturn in local TV advertising which CBS expects to continue. CBS (CBS) said it expects full year operating income to decline mid-teens from the prior year. CEO Les Moonves's canned statement: "We are focused on taking the actions necessary to place our Company on an even stronger financial footing, continuing to reduce costs across the board and exercising a very disciplined approach to investment in capital projects."...CBS Earnings As Bad As Promised: Local Ads Kill TV, Online Ads Up 12% (CBS)
Jul 1, 2008
CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox - In Context With Internet Growth
How Facebook stays afloat adding 250,000 users per day
Posted by Dan FarberA few weeks ago I talked with Jonathan Heiliger, vice president of technical operations at Facebook, about the challenge of innovating quickly and building stable infrastructure while 250,000 new members are added to the social network every day. Check out the video on ZDNet...What are the challenges that you see--let's say you're at 80 million unique users per month, 250,000 being added per day and 50,000 transactions per second. What happens when you get to 500 million or a billion if you ever get there?
Heiliger: Hopefully, tremendous things. I think we can only look forward to those days...
Quincy Smith Named CEO Of CBS Interactive, CNET
CBS completed its acquisition of CNET and chief executive Les Moonves named Quincy Smith, the dealmaker who pushed the acquisition, as CEO of the expanded digital unit.
Former CNET CEO Neil Ashe becomes president of CBS Interactive, reporting to Smith (SAI 100 #8). After the acquisition, CBS says it's now the 8th-largest Web network in terms of unduplicated unique visitors, according to ComScore.
The digital group will be organized into five vertical categories. How is CBS integrating its $1.8 billion acquisition? Per CBS's release:
Technology: CNET.com is the number one Web site in the computer and consumer electronics category, reaching more than 18 million people every month with daily premium content offerings. From the latest product reviews to breaking news from the digital world, as well as video and program downloads, CNET.com has become the leading destination for people looking to navigate today's digital world...
FIM Moving To New LA HQ In Playa Del Rey; Consolidating All LA Offices
Fox Interactive Media (NYSE: NWS) is celebrating its third birthday* by finally announcing a new headquarters that should be big enough to house all of its LA staff in one place: 300,000-plus square feet in the Horizon at Playa Vista in Playa Del Rey. In an internal memo to his staff, FIM president Peter Levinsohn described the deal "the single biggest real-estate transaction in Los Angeles in the last 25 years. When we move to our new facility between June of 2009 and January of 2010, not only will we enjoy the distinction of having one of the largest corporate headquarters in the LA area, but we will be housed in a state-of-the-art facility that reflects our corporate identity and culture." The space includes "an exclusive gym, internal and external eating facilities, volleyball courts, and lots of green space ..." It will house about 2000 FIM employees, which is all its LA staff...
ABC Considers Major Online Newscast Overhaul; CBS Looks To CNET, Celebs For Boost
When it comes to all the tropes the broadcast networks continue to cling to, the national evening news shows are arguably the most in need of drastic change. As the shows' millions viewers are getting older and older, ad support is dwindling. While the networks' online versions of the nightly news were meant to invigorate the stale productions and attract younger viewers, it turns out that the webcasts are struggling as well. David Westin, ABC's news-division president, tells WSJ that the Disney-owned network isn't ready to pull the plug on the two-year-old World News webcasts, but ABC is clearly groping for ways to make its online news relevant. Westin: "I want to look at it and say, 'What have we learned from it?' 'How can we reconfigure it?' 'What can we do better?'"
-- ABC's numbers: Last Monday, internal traffic showed ABCNews.com logged 7.8 million pageviews, though the company claims it averages about 8.4 million. Within that, the 15-minuteWorld News webcast got 145,000 hits, while three million clicks went to the news site's photo gallery featuring shots of celebrities and "the pregnant man." Though general hard news has been met with indifference, sections devoted to health and politics have been relative bright spots, suggesting that ABC might try to focus on niche verticals.
-- CBS' (NYSE: CBS) solution: celebs and tech: CBS plans to overhaul its online news with some assistance from CNET (NSDQ: CNET) once the merger closes. And noticing the same insatiable appetite for celebrity news, CBS Interactive promises to deliver more of that kind of coverage with a new destination due "in coming weeks."...
Sports Shorts: ESPN360-Cricket; NBCU-Beijing; YES-NYT
-- ESPN360.com Will Carry Exclusive Live Cricket Coverage: ESPN360.com has the exclusive U.S. broadband rights to live and replay coverage of the 2008 Asian Cup Cricket Tournament from Pakistan June 24-July 6. The six-team, 13-match biennial tournament includes national teams from Pakistan, India, UAE, Bangladesh, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka. ESPN's (NYSE: DIS) Cricinfo.comwill carry extensive highlights and provide 3D animation of each match.
-- Vista Media Center Users Can Download NBC Olympic Video Highlights: Yesterday I wrote about NBC Sports demanding that audio and video from Olympics trials come down from other sites before Beijing. Here's an example of how NBC is trying to expand access to its own video, albeit in a very limited way: NBC Olympics on the Go, powered by Wavexpress, will allow viewers with Windows Vista Media Center to set up automatic syncing of NBC-provided channels to laptops for commuter viewing "up-to-HD quality on the go". No word on whether this will work with portable devices that usually can sync with Media Center but it doesn't sound like it. Release...
Jun 5, 2008
Yahoo Strikes Deals with CBS, Wal-Mart; Unveils Yahoo Circular
Yahoo unleashed a blitz of announcements today, coinciding with president Sue Decker's keynote address at the Advertising 2.0 conference in New York. In short, Yahoo has inked advertising deals with CBS, Wal-Mart, and Havas Digital, all while launching Yahoo! Circular, an online retail marketing program inspired by newspaper circulars.Yahoo Goes Announcement Crazy
Strikes deals with CBS, Wal-Mart; Unveils Yahoo Circular
Speaking of newspapers, Yahoo also announced its Newspaper Consortium, a vast partnership with local newspapers, has quadrupled in size in just a year and a half, bringing the total membership to 779 newspapers.
Decker claimed the display advertising world is on the verge of a "renaissance." Yahoo's renewed focus in this area mirrors recent acquisitions of DoubleClick and aQuantive by Google and Microsoft.
Speaking of Microsoft, the announcements come just as the date for Yahoo's annual shareholder meeting was set for August 1. Corporate raider Carl Icahn and a slate of new board members are expected to attempt their coup at the meeting, targeting CEO Jerry Yang's job and trying to force a Microsoft acquisition agreement.
Back to the sweep of announcements. "Yahoo! is helping to accelerate the transformation of how display advertising is both bought and sold," Decker said during her keynote. "First, we are developing the technology, products and platforms that are designed to help advertisers find the right audiences and publishers find the right advertisers.
"Second, we are partnering with publishers to secure and monetize inventory that advertisers and agencies find desirable. And third, we are partnering with advertisers and agencies to channel demand to the right consumer."
As part of this plan, Yahoo has pulled Walmart.com on board in a multi-year relationship allowing Yahoo to provide display and video advertising for the retail giant. Wal-Mart also announced this week its foray into the classified advertising space. According to the Yahoo deal, Wal-Mart will use Yahoo's AMP! Advertising management platform to reach Yahoo audiences, and Yahoo will be the exclusive reseller of Wal-Mart's display inventory.
It is yet unknown if deals such as this will convince board members Yahoo was right to remain independent, or if the company will become that much more attractive to Microsoft. Yesterday, at the SMX Advanced Conference in Seattle, Microsoft's Kevin Johnson revealed the company's renewed focus on the "commercial intent" – or looking to buy – segment of the search populace.
Along with this announcement, Yahoo boasts of adding CBS programming to Yahoo TV, which, in addition to NBC, Fox, and 15 cable networks, gives Yahoo a 92% reach of the US Web-based TV audience.
"It's all part of our strategy to become the starting point for the most consumers on the Web," said Karin Gilford, Yahoo's Vice President of Entertainment and Lifestyles.
Also part of that strategy is Havas Digital. Havas has agreed to adopt the Right Media Exchange platform and AMP in a global partnership with Yahoo. "The combined capabilities will allow Havas Digital clients to execute highly segmented media buys on a mass scale," said Don Epperson, chief executive officer of Havas Digital.
AMP, which is due to roll out in the third quarter of 2008, will incorporate members of the Newspaper Consortium. Reaching 779 member newspapers, the partnership includes publishing groups Cox Newspapers, Day Publishing, E.W. Scripps, GateHouse Media, Hearst Newspapers, McClatchy Company, New York Daily News, New York Times Regional Group, Shaw Newspapers, The Times Publishing Company and the Tribune Review Publishing Company, among others—pretty much all of them except for Knight-Ridder and Gannett, it would seem.
And finally (seems all these announcements at once dilutes the scale of the each announcement), in line with Yahoo's newspaper partnerships, the company unveiled its Circular Program, which allows retailers to distribute newspaper-like circulars across Yahoo's network. The circulars will be powered by Yahoo's ShopLocal program.
"The largest driver of in-store traffic for retailers has traditionally been the print circular, and the Yahoo! Circular program is designed to enhance that," said Steven Feuling, category development officer for Yahoo! "Harnessing our deep insight into user interests, Yahoo! can help retailers speak to consumers on a level that is more personal and engaging by putting just the right products and marketing messages in front of an interested shopper at just the right time."
That last part especially sounds like what Kevin Johnson spoke about regarding Microsoft's next moves. Good luck, Jerry.
May 22, 2008
NEWS: CBS Interactive Gets $2 Million Ad Buy From GM (CBS)
CBS Interactive Gets $2 Million Ad Buy From GM (CBS)
A source tells us CBS Interactive just got an ad buy from GM in the $2.2 to $2.3 million range. The deal, with Starcom MediaVest unit GM Planworks, was reached earlier this week. Given the timing, the buy could be connected to a broader upfront deal. CBS declined to comment and hasn't yet announced whether any upfront talks, which are going on now, have resulted in a deal.
Assuming the deal goes through, it would mean CBS just got a little more than 1% of the $197 million GM spent on the Web last year. As Adage reported earlier this spring, GM plans to move half of its ad spending online by 2011. Last year the company spent a total of $3 billion on ads.
In March, CEO Les Moonves said the company sold $200 million in online advertising in 2007 and would book between $260 million and $280 million in 2008. That, however, was before theacquisition of CNET, which will help boost CBS's digital revenues to $1 billion by 2010 or 2011.
May 21, 2008
NEW: CBS Launching New College Sports Ad Net; Pulls Remnants
CBS Launching New College Sports Ad Net; Pulls Remnants
from paidContent.org byWednesday morning the CBS College Sports Network plans to announce the newest rider on the ad network bandwagon and the latest drain on remnant networks like Platform-A's (NYSE: TWX) Advertising.com: CBS College Sports Media comprised of CBSSports.com, NCAA.com (produced by CBSSports.com), and the roughly 215 official college athletic sites operated by what used to be known as CSTV. At the same time, all CBS Interactive (NYSE: CBS) sports properties will stop selling through remnant networks—no hard number but think millions of dollars.
The vertical ad network, which CBS says would have served 10-plus million uniques in March, will sell display and video advertising on multiple platforms. The prime demo is males 18-49. March, of course, includes March Madness, which produces high traffic; one key question is how the new ad net can produce across the year and what kind of growth it can deliver. CBSSports.com GM Jason Kint tells me that CBS is launching now to take advantage of the boost from March Madness and the main site's rebranding from CBSSportsline.
Shedding remnants: "Our remnant networks have included the major players – Advertising.com, TACODA, Specific Media, etc. The dollars are significant – it's a strategic decision within sports right now." Why cut out the remnant nets? Kint explains: "Remnant networks undervalue our audience, our brand and the relationship between the two." Creating the new ad net "preserves a network buy and also ensures a premium and trusted environment for our advertising partners. I expect more moves in this direction across major publishers."
Copyright fight brewing between TV networks and RedLasso
...and CBS sent a letter on Monday, accusing the company of "building a business based on the unauthorized syndication of" ...
CBS President Leslie Moonves Drops By CNET HQ
...CBS President & CEO Leslie Moonves paid a visit to CNET headquarters in San Francisco today, we’re hearing. He came alone. No Quincy Smith, No Michael Marquez (the guys who did the deal). No entourage of any kind. The goal? Address the troops (all of CNET, in person and via a webcast) and let everyone know how this $1.8 billion merger is go... TechCrunch
CBS Gets Backdoor Into Hulu, Sort Of; Hulu Expands Distribution
...owned by CBS (NYSE: CBS) once the deal goes through). The announcement comes a few days after the CBS Audience Network updated its own site for advertisers and added some classic TV programs under its umbrella as well. -- Hulu's new partners: In addition to putting its videos on TV.com, which is also a member of the CBS Audience Network, Hulu...
CBS Adds Free Shows on Web
...CBS substantially increased the number of archived television shows streamed free on the Web, the latest salvo in the battle among traditional broadcasters to capture viewers online. WSJ.com: Media & Marketing
May 18, 2008
NEWS: CBS Centralizes Its Superdistribution of Videos on the Web
CBS Centralizes Its Superdistribution of Videos on the Web
When it comes to Web video, CBS has been one of the most promiscuous media companies out there. And no, I am not talking about its $1.8 billion acquisition of CNET (which does have some video assets). Rather, CBS has taken a strategy of superdistribution when it comes to spreading its videos across the Web. It wants its videos everywhere. Thus CBS has struck distribution deals with more than 300 sites—including YouTube, AOL, MSN, Joost, Veoh, Bebo,and TVGuide.com. These are collectively lumped together into the CBS Audience Network, against which CBS sells its own ads.
Now the CBS Audience Network also has its own site, where it highlights its top partners and the most popular CBS videos on each of them. You can see how many times each video has been watched and the number of comments for each one. (An iPhone demo and a Borat interview on Letterman are the two most popular, with 8.9 million and 5.7 million views, respectively). Right now, though, only the top videos from YouTube are visible. But it looks like AOL, Bebo, MSN, TV.com, and Joost will be coming soon...
Ed: Content, circulation, ad sales. CBS is building it's circulation and auditing mechanism for the Web 3.0 world.
AOL Launches Specialty Sites to Boost Growth
Ed: To strategically compete with Google, Microsoft -- look for legacy broadcasters and publishers to become destination channels.Though known best for bringing the Internet to the masses, AOL is beginning to shift its focus toward serving niche audiences with the launch of dozens of specialty websites.
Why old media is running scared of Google
Talk about missing the forest for the trees. With everyone and their mother-in-law predicting a coming wave of acquisitions of so-called new media companies by old media outfits, that future's already snuck up on us.
In the last year:
• Cox bought Adify
• Hi-Media Group bought Fotolog
• Time Warner's AOL bought Bebo, Quigo, Third Screen Media
• Comcast bought Plaxo
• Disney bought Club Penguin
• CBS bought Last.fm, CNET Networks, Wallstrip, Dotspotter
• Microsoft bought 1.6 percent of Facebook
• Hearst bought Kaboodle and Answerology
• Jupiter Media bought MediaBistro
• News Corp. bought Photobucket, Beliefnet
• The New Times bought Freakonomics blog
• Forbes bought Clipmarks
• Discovery bought TreehuggerIf you use News Corp.'s 2005 acquisition of MySpace.com as the starting point, the list gets longer. Going back that far, there's been more than $19 billion worth of significant mergers between the biggest old and new media players in the online media industry.
May 15, 2008
NEWS: CBS-CNET: CBS Will Own TV.com, Radio.com, MP3.com and News.com
CBS to buy CNET Networks
Posted by Margaret Kane
CBS has agreed to acquire CNET Networks in a deal valued at $1.8 billion, the companies said Thursday.
The purchase price comes to $11.50 per share, representing a 44 percent premium over Wednesday's closing price of $7.95.
The acquisition will make CBS one of the 10 most popular Internet companies in the United States, with a combined 54 million unique users per month, and about 200 million users worldwide, the companies said.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. CNET's board has unanimously approved the deal, the company said.
Based in San Francisco, CNET Networks-owned sites include CNET, ZDNet, GameSpot, TV.com, MP3.com, CNET News.com, UrbanBaby, CHOW, Search.com, BNET, MySimon, and TechRepublic.
CNET Networks, News.com's publisher, recently announced a partnership with Yahoo to provide technology news and reviews to the search company. The companies also agreed to allow Yahoo to sell display ads on CNET properties and for CNET to sell ads alongside the content it provides on Yahoo sites.
CNET has been involved in a fight over control of its board with Jana Partners.
CBS Buying CNET For $1.8 Billion; CBS Predicts $1 Billion Interactive Revenues By 2010
from Silicon Alley Insider by
CBS will pay $11.50 a share for CNET. The all-cash deal represents a premium of 44% above the $7.95 CNET closed at yesterday. Will it be enough to satisfy JANA et al?...
CBS to Buy CNET Networks for $1.8 Billion
CBS has agreed to pay US$1.8 billion in cash for online media company CNET Networks in a deal that has the backing of both...
CBS-CNET: CBS Will Own TV.com, Radio.com, MP3.com and News.com
CNET (NSDQ: CNET) Networks comes with a lot of assets, among them some of the best domains you couldn't buy without acquiring a company. When the dust settles, CBS (NYSE: CBS) will ownRadio.com, now just a way to search for online radio stations but sure to be worked in with CBS Radio; TV.com, which has been revamped but can be much more; News.com, which is now the home of CNET News; and MP3.com, which likely will wind up linked with Last.FM.
CBS-CNET: Our Coverage In Links
from paidContent.org by
-- BREAKING: CBS Acquiring CNET For $1.8 Billion; 44.6 Percent Premium
-- CBS-CNET: Interview: Leslie Moonves, CEO, CBS: 'Right Opportunity, Right Time, Right Price'
-- First Take: CNET: The Brand Everyone Wanted To Buy, But Didn't Really
-- Earnings: CBS Q1 Revs Flat; Net Income Up 14 Percent
-- CNET Q1 Revs Up 3 Percent, But Shy Of Estimates; Yahoo Deal: $100 Million In Revs Over Three Years
-- CBS Interactive's Quincy Smith On Re-Org: 'More CBS Corp. Firepower Focused On Interactive'
-- CBS Interactive Reorganizes Under Pressure To Show Results
-- CBS Interactive Opening Menlo Park Office; Big Acquisition Needed?
-- CNET's Proxy Fight Update: Court Upholds Jana's Right To Nominate Board
-- Updated: Jana Offers CNET Plan: Slams Management; Wants More Social Media; Settlement Rejected
-- Update: CBS And CNN In Talks—Again—To Combine News Operations: Report; CBS Denies
-- Updated: CBS Interactive Trims Staff, Cuts At CBS.com, CBSNews.com
CBS to buy CNet for $1.75 billion
CBS says it's buying CNet Networks Inc. for about $1.75 billion. That's a 45 percent premium above the closing price of $7.95 for the online news and entertainment site.
CBS Agrees to Buy CNET
from WSJ.com: What's News US - CBS has agreed to buy online news provider CNET Networks for about $1.8 billion, just as CNET's battle with dissident shareholders was heating up.
DealBook: CBS to Pay $1.8 Billion for CNET Networks
from NYT - Technology - The deal for CNET is CBS’s biggest online acquisition since it hired Quincy Smith, a former media and technology investment banker, to lead its interactive unit in late 2006.
CBS agrees to buy CNet for $1.75 billion
from San Jose Mercury News via Yahoo! News - CBS Corp. agreed to buy online technology news and entertainment company CNet Networks Inc. for about $1.
CBS: Now Broadcasting in Web 1.0
“The Stars’ Address is CBS.” And now it’s CNET Networks’ as well. CBS this morning said it agreed to buy the Internet news and entertainment company for $1.8-billion in cash. The deal values CNET at about $11.50 per share — a 44.6% premium to Wednesday’s closing price of $7.95. That’s $.50 more than the $11 Jana Partners, the investment management firm plotting a proxy fight for control of the company’s board, had hoped to squeeze out of CNet, so presumably even dissident investors are glad to see CBS stepping in here.
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