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 Send to email | Can CNET Change The Dismal Narrative For CBS? in CBS |  By Silicon
el 02-Jul-2008 |
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 When Sumner Redstone broke Viacom apart in January 2006, CBS (CBS) was saddled with the dying, aging, old-media businesses: Broadcast TV, local TV stations, radio, the No. 2 movie channel (Showtime), publishing, and a big billboard operation. Nevertheless, for the first year-and-a-half, it was CBS that grew at a steady clip, while Viacom, with its stable of young cable networks like MTV, Spike and Nickelodeon, languished.
For CBS, those were the good times. But those times are long over. It's been nearly a year since the company hit its 52-week high: $35.75 on July 20, 2007. Since then, CBS shares have taken a long, precipitous swoon, setting a new 52-week low last week and narrowly missing setting a new one at yesterday's close of $19.49. (CBS isn't alone in this regard: News Corp. and Sony are also at or near 52-week lows.)
Yet: CBS's businesses certainly aren't any worse off than they were a year ago. Network TV's upfront advertising sales were surprisingly strong in spite of a general advertising downturn. The company keeps buying back stock. Its stations and radio operation are no weaker today than a year ago. What's slamming CBS shares? The fact that 70% of its revenue is tied to so-called old media.
What can be done? Not much. But CBS is trying with the acquisition of CNET to, if not change the business equation, at least change the narrative. What opportunities does CNET present?
- CBS-CNET becomes the 8th-largest Web company, per comScore, with 54 million unique visitors a month.
- CBS has the opportunity to remake its news division, an also-ran on the Web, with the News.com brand, which isn't strongly tied to to the tech news that's there now.
- It can try creating a video portal, a la Hulu, with TV.com, which, by the way, already has a very favorable distribution deal with Hulu, including NBC, Fox and Warner Bros. content.
- CBS can take a flyer on building businesses around CNET's cache of Internet domains, such as Download.com, Chat.com, Com.com, Shopper.com, Radio.com, etc, or else sell them to the highest bidder.
Is any of this game-changing for CBS in any real sense? No. Could it shed some of its image as a no-growth bastion of old media? Possibly. And as the chart below shows, anything is worth a try.
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See Also:
Quincy Smith Named CEO Of CBS Interactive, CNET
How Will Sumner Redstone Fix Viacom's Stalled Stock: Buyout Or Shakeup?
CNET, CBS: We're Not Cost-Cutting, We're Growing
CBS Buying CNET For $1.8 Billion
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| Review: BlackBerry Bold | | Most people associate BlackBerry with business email, but things are about to change with the company’s latest device.
Join CNET Asia’s community
Get your tech questions answered, meet other gadget lovers, start your own blog and be heard!
http://asia.cnet.com [..] Read complete article | | Published 15-Aug-2008 by Nerdblog in General
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| CBS to Acquire CNET for $1.8 Billion |  CBS is taking aim at the young demographic as they prepare to shell out a whopping $1.8 billion in the acquisition of CNET Networks. The hefty sum amounts to $11.50 per share, a 44% premium over CNET’s closing price on the day of the announcement. JANA Partners, a major stakeholder in CNET, may be left [...] [..] Read complete article | | Published 15-May-2008 by Zach Epstein in News
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| Kotaku`s The Gamers Guide | Blogger | XBOX 360 Gamers Weblog
Gossip, news and leaks for obsessive gamers Kotaku As if you don't waste enough of your time in a gamer's haze, here's Kotaku: a gamer's guide that goes beyond the press release. Gossip, cheats, criticism, design, nostalgia, pred |
| Kotaku`s The Gamers Guide | Blogger | XBOX 360 Gamers Weblog
Gossip, news and leaks for obsessive gamers Kotaku As if you don't waste enough of your time in a gamer's haze, here's Kotaku: a gamer's guide that goes beyond the press release. Gossip, cheats, criticism, design, nostalgia, pred |
| JANA: Here's Our Plan For CNET | | Last week CNET fired 120 employees in an effort to appease JANA, the hedge fund that wants to boot the company's board and senior executives. That didn't do the trick. So what do JANA and its allies want CNET to do?
See for yourself: [..] Read complete article | | Published 01-Apr-2008 by Silicon in General
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| Kotaku`s The Gamers Guide | Blogger | XBOX 360 Gamers Weblog
Gossip, news and leaks for obsessive gamers Kotaku As if you don't waste enough of your time in a gamer's haze, here's Kotaku: a gamer's guide that goes beyond the press release. Gossip, cheats, criticism, design, nostalgia, pred |
| AMD Gets Behind Social Issue Gaming [Games For Change 08] | | Chip maker AMD's philanthropic foundation is getting behind games for social change. At the 2008 Games for Change event in New York, chip maker AMD announced its "Changing the Game" program, which aims to teach kids to develop games with social content.
AMD also sponsored the Games For Change event, w [..] Read complete article | | Published 04-Jun-2008 by Leigh Alexander in Amdgames for change
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| JANA Winning the CNET Pissing Match | | So far, the CNET (CNET) takeover war has mostly consisted of CNET and the JANA hedge-fund consortium trading press releases and legal filings. From the bleachers, however, JANA is winning the fight hands down.
We have a suggestion for [..] Read complete article | | Published 28-Mar-2008 by Silicon in CNET
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| CNET Canning 120 In Forced Reorg | | CNET is firing 120 employees -- 10% of its U.S. workforce, according to Reuters, or 4.4% of its worldwide workforce -- in a "realignment to more appropriately allocate resources," the company said, in a filing with the SEC. The company estimates the restructuring will cost $3.5 to $4 million in severance pay. CNET is under pressure from activist investor group JANA & Co., which is trying to ele [..] Read complete article | | Published 26-Mar-2008 by Silicon in General
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CBS will pay $11.50 a share for CNET. The all-cash deal represents a premium of 44% over above the $7.95 CNET closed at yesterday. Will it be enough to satisfy JANA et al?
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