MSNBC.com, which is a joint venture (JV) between Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and GE (NYSE: GE), has been around for about 11 years. Interestingly enough, the JV hasn't struck any acquisitions – that is, until now.
MSNBC has agreed to buy social media site, Newsvine (the price tag was not disclosed).
In fact, Newsvine has only five employees and raised a mere $1.5 million in venture capital. Yet, the company certainly is efficient. After all, the growth has been strong and the website gets about 1 million unique visitors per month.
Then again, Newsvine leverages the power of its community. Users can vote and comment on articles, which creates lots of frequency and loyalty.
What's more, Newsvine will keep its identity, which is smart. It's often the case that a big organization can dampen innovation.
But, I'm sure we'll start seeing some cross pollination, such as placing Newsvine features on MSNBC.com.
And, if you want to check out other recent M&A transaction, click here.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-13-2007 @ 11:36PM
blogmyway.org said...
Don't you think Newsvine looks pretty much like Digg.com? With pligg.com now almost anyone can get their own Digg and Newsvine. The thing is the new players just need to build up their users bases. I wonder why they bought Newsvine but not Digg. Or I may miss out some good detail of whom had already bought Digg... To my limit knowledge so far, that Digg is still standing on its own feet. Newsvine is a good website and is a good service no doubt, but Digg seems to have way more users, but yet Newsvine get to be the chosen one.