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33
Week of 2005 / As Murdoch's son
resigns News Corp. the comglomerate is now off and running
looking to buy out a few established Internet firms like,
China's
Xingtv.com,
Blinkx.com,
MySpace.com,
and the potentials of owning several
related combo Wi-Fi service/sales post-mortem marketing
tools, such
as:Soulfind.com, Webob.com
and WiFi engines Yes90 and Skype.
• • Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. who News Corp. owns Fox Television Network, 20th Century Fox movie studio, satellite broadcaster DirecTV and newspapers including the New York Post, among other properties like Sky Italia. • • What scares the world's fourth-largest media giant the most, according to people close to to any new internet acquisions is -- "is it to late". They relate to the most recent TVI August 2005 headline that "Microsoft Beats Apple in Seeking Patent" • • Apple Computer Inc., whose iPod is the top-selling digital music player in the U.S., lost an attempt to patent some of the device's technology because rival Microsoft Corp. had already filed a similar application. • • Microsoft beat Apple to the patent application by five months, U.S. Patent & Trademark Office documents show. Apple's request, filed by Chief Executive Steve Jobs and other executives in October 2002, was rejected by patent officials last month. Apple plans to appeal the decision to ensure that it won't be forced to pay royalties to Microsoft on every iPod sale. • • Those involved in the projects say that as of August 2005, News Corp. was still in negotiations to buy Blinkx, a privately held Internet search company based in San Francisco. The prospective acquisition of Blinkx is part of an aggressive bid by News Corp. to take on such Internet powerhouses as Yahoo Inc. and Google. News Corp. is trying to build a rival portal by acquiring fast-growing Web businesses and by leveraging the sites of its in-house brands, including those of local Fox TV stations, the Fox TV network and cable channels such as Fox Sports and Fox News. • • During News Corp.'s earnings announcement last week, Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said the company was prepared to spend as much as $2 billion on Internet acquisitions. He acknowledged that the company was in advanced negotiations to acquire a search engine, but did not disclose any names. • • Some News Corp. sources said the talks weren't quite as advanced as Murdoch suggested last week and could still break down. • • Murdoch predicted that News Corp.'s Internet business would account for "a major part of the company's growth, profits and asset building over the next several years." News Corp. insiders say Murdoch has become obsessed with the initiative to purchase any or all of dot com company's mentioned, especially since attending an annual media industry retreat in Sun Valley, Idaho, last month, and even went shopping for office space in Los Angeles last week for the new group, Fox Interactive Media. • • In the last month, Murdoch has agreed to spend more than $700 million on Internet acquisitions. Among them: the parent company of MySpace.com, a fast-growing "social networking" Internet site, and Scout Media Inc., a sports website. • • Both Blinkx and Xingtv.com could provide search capacity for the Fox portal and could give News Corp. an edge in what could be the next big sensation on the Web: search engines for finding movies, TV episodes and news clips. • • Soulfind.com and the Webob.com search engines have the potiential to help Fox News tap into the billions of individuals that will be listed in the post mortem celebrity web listings. • • At the moment, it is considered the front-runner in the area of video searches. • • Both Blinkx and Xingtv.com could provide search capacity for the Fox portal and could give News Corp. an edge in what could be the next big sensation on the Web: search engines for finding movies, TV episodes and news clips. • • But instead of celebrating their quarterly results, which were better than what Wall Street expected, Murdoch sounded testy during a conference call as reporters peppered him with questions about the circumstances surrounding the unexpected resignation last month of his son and heir apparent. • • Lachlan Murdoch, 33, said he had resigned his post as News Corp.'s deputy chief operating officer to return to Australia with his wife and infant son. But sources said tensions between father and son had played a role. • • In particular, Lachlan is believed to have opposed attempts by his father to change the structure of a family trust that holds stock that controls News Corp. Upon Murdoch's death, the trust now would be controlled by Murdoch's four adult children, including Lachlan and two others from his second marriage to Anna Murdoch. • • Murdoch now wants his two young daughters from his third wife, Wendi, to have a position in the trust's governance -- not that he was eager to say so Wednesday. • • "There is no change" to the trust, Murdoch said. "I don't think it's appropriate to talk about." • • Then, in what appeared to be a reference to Anna Murdoch's lawyer, who was quoted in the news last week, he curtly added: "I don't think it's wise to listen to loose-lipped lawyers." • • During the conference call, Murdoch denied reports that News Corp. would buy Skype for $3 billion as part of its Internet expansion strategy. Founded by the creators of the Kazaa file-sharing service, Skype allows users to make Internet-based calls worldwide at no cost. • • "We've had conversations, but the founders do not want to sell," Murdoch said, calling the company "not the only alternative." Murdoch predicted that News Corp. would make several acquisitions at "modest prices" in the coming months to build a new type of portal under its newly created Fox Interactive Media Group. • • For example, Murdoch said the company was in serious negotiations to buy a search engine. Last month, Fox Interactive agreed to buy the parent of the fast-growing MySpace.com social networking site and the Scout Media Inc. sports site. • • News Corp. on Wednesday also raised its dividend in the wake of demands by John Malone, the chairman of Liberty Media Corp., News Corp.'s largest non-family shareholder. Malone last week called for the company to focus more on improving shareholder value and less on empire-building acquisitions. • • Liberty Media's 18% stake in News Corp. has been seen as a potential threat to the family's nearly 30% interest. News Corp. said Wednesday that its board had extended by two years a "poison pill" takeover defense that caps Malone's holdings. • • News Corp. had been negotiating with Malone to unwind Liberty's position, but Murdoch suggested Wednesday that those discussions were over. "We've, frankly, moved on." • • Investors responded to New York-based News Corp.'s results by driving up its Class A non-voting shares by 26 cents to $16.42. • • Operating profit at the cable group rose 14% to $137 million on revenue of $831 million. Operating profit for the film business rose 15% to $109 million, propelled by the home-video releases of "Alien vs. Predator" and "Sideways." • • Operating profit at News Corp.'s broadcast television unit dropped 2% to $344 million, as programming costs at the Fox network rose and the company's television stations sold less advertising. The fledgling Italian satellite TV service, posted its first quarterly operating profit, earning $74 million, contrasted with a loss of $26 million a year earlier. • • Net income at the nation's fourth-largest media giant increased to $717 million, or 23 cents a share, in its fiscal fourth quarter ended June 30, up from $429 million, or 15 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose 11% to $6.1 billion. _________ ValueClick to Acquire
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Firm More Articles • Converging News 332005 / TeleCom Buy Outs and Asset Seizure Boom Respectfully
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