The Times, which is incidentially owned by News Corp themselves, reported a few minutes ago that News Corp is considering selling MySpace to Yahoo! in return of a 25% stake in the company.
Taking Yahoo!’s current $37 billion value, that would mean a staggering $12 billion - more than ten times the largest web acquisition we’ve seen to date, and more 24 times News Corp’s $580 million ‘bargain’ price for MySpace. Also included in the rumored deal ‘complementarily’ are other News Corp online assests, such as IGN and PhotoBucket.
After Jerry Yang’s recent step-in as CEO, this seems like an answer to Yahoo!’s eagerly awaited comeback to its investors and the web as general. Over the past couple of years, they’ve declined in all ways possible, and it’s no surprise they’d be considering drastic actions as such to make their way back.
Opinion
What has me wondering is the fact that Yahoo! allegedly denied a $1 billion price on Facebook. Surely it’s not the technology, the number of users, or future value that sets apart the $10.5 billion price difference between the two — actually, I’d argue it’s the opposite way around. Of course, unless Yahoo! and News Corp plan to really do something together with that 25% — i.e. merge their offerings — this should be a no deal.
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