Mergers, Acquisitions and Takeovers Case Study

msnbc.com Acquires Newsvine: A New Direction

OR

Abstract:
msnbc.com is a leader in breaking news and in promoting original journalism. Started by Microsoft and NBC in the year 1996 the website has functioned independently and has been growing profitably. msnbc.com was most popular for its coverage of political news. The popularity of online news has continued to expand, as readers, particularly the younger generation is increasingly turning to the Internet for news. As competition increases, news sites like NYTimes.com, USAToday.com, ABCNews.com, msnbc.com and CNN.com are trying to distinguish themselves from others. These sites are competing against news aggregators like Yahoo News and Google. With a view to expand its services in the background of these changes, msnbc.com acquired Newsvine, a participatory news site, on October 2007. It is msnbc.com’s first acquisition in its 11-year history. Newsvine’s acquisition is a new direction for msnbc.com. How this acquisition would help improve the company’s competitive edge remains to be seen.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To analyse the nature of news broadcasting industry services
• To analyse the nature of competition in the industry
• To analyse the strategy and competitiveness of msnbc.com
• To analyse msnbc.com’s acquisition of Newsvine and how this acquisition helps in improving its competitive edge.

Keywords : msnbc.com; Newsvine; News Broadcasting; Online News sites; Yahoo; Google; AOL; Mergers,Acquisitions,Alliances Case Studies; Competition

Contents: 
News Broadcasting Industry
Top News Web Sites
Index Ranking of the Online News Sites
Online News Site Based on Eight Business Impact Drivers
Newsvine Services
Newsvine - Growth in User Engagement
msnbc.com Acquires Newsvine
Business Model Characteristics
Newsvine Service Offerings