The Financial Times has named Google's Larry Page and Sergey Brin as
Men of the Year (apparently beating out Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi and Ukrainian President
Viktor Yushchenko). I guess it's difficult to argue with the choice(s) given Google's growing presence and popularity but did Google really have more of an impact this year than 2004? Sure, Google's stock soared, its financial results continued to blow away Wall St., it rolled out several new cool services, and it capped off the year by spending $1-billion for 5% of AOL. It sounds like it was busy but was it a Men of the Year year? I would boldly suggest the Man of the Year – at least in the online world – was Rupert Murdoch, who took News Corp. from zero to sixty on the Web with a series of bold strategic acquisitions. After sitting on the online sidelines, Murdoch decided News Corp. needed to get into the game so his M&A people went out and bought
IGN Entertainment, which owns AskMen.com, TeamXbox, Rotten Tomatoes and GameSpy, for $650-million. They also purchased Intermix, which owns the wildy-popular
MySpace.com, for $580-million, and
Scout.com for $60-million. These deals made News Corp. a major online player in a matter of months – putting the company firmly in the middle of the Web's advertising tsunami. You may not be able to teach an old dog new tricks but you can sure try if he has enough money…and Rupert Murdoch seems intent on making sure he doesn't miss out on the the Web's next growth spurt.
One Comment
What's neat about NWS/Murdoch is that it shows what actually getting off your butt can do. Here's a guy with, arguably, the best conglomeration of media assets on the planet. With the odd exception of Canada, it is almost impossible to turn on a TV without seeing content NWS substantially owns (Fox, SKY, Star and Foxtel) or distributes (DirecTV, BskyB, Foxtel etc.). Not to mention the credible print presence (Times of London, anyone?), movie studios, stakes in the Rangers and the Lakers etc. Dude's a player.
So, hmm, this 'net thing seems to be taking off, and with it billions of traditional ad dollars, too. What's a poor mogul to do? Well, first, apparently, wait. He did next-to squat for years. But now that the dollar flow is real and marketers are looking for the web to do more heavy lifting, NWS says “uncle” and just bloody goes for it. Giddy up. A few bills later and blammo, you are in the game.
And you know what? I think a) they have just gotten going and b) the combination of assets at their disposal and a new desire to create a home for some of that shifting ad money will result in some pretty cool stuff over the next 24 months.
NWS has the potential to be what IACI would have been if Diller had stayed in pure media and not gone into eComm.
- Stuart