As rumored, Videogame-related internet media firm IGN Entertainment will be acquired by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and become a part of it Fox Interactive Media unit, reports GameDaily. News Corp. announced Thursday that it had "signed a definitive agreement" to purchase IGN for approximately $650 million in cash. IGN's chief executive officer, Mark Jung, will continue in his role and report to Ross Levinsohn, President of Fox Interactive Media, once the deal is completed - likely during the fourth quarter of this year.
With the announcement came speculation as to which company is next on the list for acquisition by News Corp., which has been on a buying spree.
Last month, in an earnings conference call, Murdoch stressed "there is no greater priority for the company today than to meaningfully and profitably expand its internet presence." According to The Wall Street Journal, News Corp. beat out Viacom to purchase IGN.
Some say CNET may be next. It owns GameSpot.com, and according to Rick Munarriz of The Motley Fool, "Both IGN and Gamespot are likely to lure a whole lot of traffic in the near term; all three video game console makers will be rolling out their next-generation systems over the next year. An attention-hungry empire would hate to miss out on that traffic."
IGN's approximately 28 million monthly unique users will take News Corp.'s U.S. web traffic to nearly 70 million - and more than 12 billion page impressions per month. That's quite an attractive audience for advertising dollars.
In June, IGN itself acquired male lifestyle site Askmen.com, adding 3.8 million visitors to its network. IGN's games network and businesses target men age 18-34: The IGN and GameSpy websites provide videogame news and reviews; Rotten Tomatoes and Filmforce cover movies.
News Corp. recently also bought sports web company Scout Media as well as Intermix, which runs the highly popular social networking site MySpace.com. Those acquisitions increased News Corp's online audience from 16 million unique visitors a month to nearly 50 million. Murdoch earlier this year identified the internet as a priority and said he was willing to spend up to $2 billion on acquisitions.
