Rupert Murdoch Looms Over the Web
My column this week in the National Post (securely locked behind our wonderful “walled garden”) looks at how the obsession with GYM (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft) may cause many people to ignore Rupert Murdoch's online ambitions. With the purchase of IGN Entertainment and Intermix Media last year and another $1-billion of potential investments, Murdoch is poised to make News Corp. a major player on the Web in a very short period of time. News Corp.'s online potential is bolstered by its extensive and impressive media portfolio that includes Fox Television, 20th Century Fox, BSkyB satellite-TV and Harper Collins. Even though Murdoch is 74-years-old, he gets the Internet and how it's changing the news and entertainment industries. When asked about his Internet strategy yesterday at a CitiGroup media conference in Phoenix, Murdoch talked about myspace.com, which has 47 million registered members and adding another million a week. TheStreet.com reports that Murdoch wants to make myspace.com “more sticky” and it plans to free video downloads, instant messaging and voice services.
Update: Read/WriteWeb has a post looking at the players in the social networking market and their subscriber growth in the past year. Just out of curiosity, I wonder what Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams is doing now?
Update: Read/WriteWeb has a post looking at the players in the social networking market and their subscriber growth in the past year. Just out of curiosity, I wonder what Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams is doing now?
