Fox buys IGN... damn.

[Cap'n 1time]

From Beyond Unreal

A News Corporation press release reveals that Rupert Murdoch's media giant is to acquire the IGN Entertainment network for an estimated $650 million.

Acquisition Includes IGN's Popular GameWeb Properties, as well as GameSpy Planet Network, Rotten Tomatoes and AskMen.com

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 8, 2005--News Corporation announced today that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire IGN Entertainment, Inc, a leading community-based Internet media and services company for video games and other forms of digital entertainment, for approximately $650 million in cash. IGN and its network of sites will become part of News Corporation's Fox Interactive Media unit.

The acquisition of IGN underscores News Corporation's commitment to expand its internet presence by offering a deeper, richer online experience for its millions of passionate users. News Corporation previously announced, and is in the process of closing, its acquisitions of Intermix, with its highly popular MySpace.com web site, and leading college sports destination Scout Media, which will further enrich the Company's successful FOXSports.com.

Full Press Release

The massive IGN network consists of the recently-assimilated GameSpy portal and planet network, as well as other such popular sites as Voodoo Extreme, which today offered its own unique reaction to the acquisition.


Source: Blue's News

here is what voodoo extreme had to say

September 08, 2005 - It's official: the IGN empire is now owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation:

News Corporation announced today that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire IGN Entertainment, Inc, a leading community-based Internet media and services company for video games and other forms of digital entertainment, for approximately $650 million in cash. IGN and its network of sites will become part of News Corporation's Fox Interactive Media unit.

Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: "With the acquisition of IGN and its 28 million unique users, we have gone a long way toward achieving two of our key strategic objectives in our efforts to become a leading and profitable internet presence. First, we have significantly enhanced our online reach, strengthening our position as the fifth most trafficked presence on the web. We also become the fourth largest network in terms of monthly page impressions. And second, we have furthered our strategy to leverage the unique competencies the company enjoys with its news, sports, and entertainment assets to create a leading internet destination. By acquiring IGN and its compelling sites, we now have top entertainment sites to go along with FOXSports.com, as well as our myriad news sites, headlined by FOXNews.com."

Mark Jung, IGN Entertainment's Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We believe that Fox Interactive Media is an ideal fit with IGN Entertainment. With this combination, our users will enjoy access to a broad array of content and services covering video games, music, movies, sports and news, and our advertisers will benefit from enormous reach into a highly sought-after demographic. We are thrilled with this acquisition and can't wait to get started."

P.S. We're all doomed!

Lets see how the conservative spin doctors screw up video game advertising and the gamespy network eh?

[TyBO]

Rupert Murdock sounds like he wishes to take over the world, one website at a time.