Fox has dropped its bid for Time Warner. The surrender was unequivocal; “We’re done, period,” said Chase Carey, Murdoch’s right hand man. Fox was done in by an inclining Time share price and a declining Fox one; a toxic mix for a bid relying on Fox stock as currency. Murdoch, doubtless grudgingly, immediately spent $6 […]
Exactly three years ago, Rupert Murdoch was wiping custard pie from his shirt as his now ex-wife struck out at his assailant in the House of Commons Media Committee room. Even before the pie, Murdoch had confessed it was the ‘humblest day’ of his life. The foam wiped away more easily than the inevitable impression […]
blinkx, the ad targeting company, took a real pasting when it recently issued a profit warning. It said it was partly down to the damaging blog from a Harvard academic that cast doubt on the veracity of the company’s audience traffic data. It also said it was down to “industry-wide issues of efficiency and effectiveness”, […]
For the last few years, M&A has been off the menu; recession tends to dull the corporate appetite, no matter how many dishes the desperate investment bankers offer up. But business doesn’t stop and many companies have harvested a lot of cash or shed a lot of debt. As economies uptick shareholders start expecting accelerated […]
The need for speed is not always associated with high intelligence; think young men (or, even worse, middle aged men pretending to be young) on motorbikes. On the other hand in motor racing those that can afford the best technology can usually go quickest. The same can be said for service providers. And, as in […]
Ironically, given that its purpose is to draw attention, targeted advertising is the dog that didn’t bark. For as long as most of us can remember it has been talked of the great untapped resource, just waiting to be unlocked by convergence; the ‘Mother Load’ that would justify much investment in technology and content. The […]
There are some people who owe politicians and journalists a lot. These people are estate agents and parking wardens. A few years ago, these groups would routinely rank at the bottom of any ‘respect’ poll in the UK, now, thanks to MPs expense scandals and the phone hacking debacle, they no longer need worry about […]
There used to be an entire industry devoted to Kremlin watching during the Cold War, it’s a pastime that’s enjoying – if that’s the right word – a revival just now. The BBC bureaucracy has sometimes been compared to the Kremlin and defining, deducing or second guessing its next move sometimes seems as fraught. Lord […]
The first ever closing of a BBC channel has been done to pave the way for the first ever tax imposed for receiving content over the Internet. The BBC, in the person of its Director General Lord Tony Hall, says the BBC is taking difficult and necessary decisions in the face of real term cuts […]
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, so the saying goes. Charter and John Malone must be reflecting on that now. Comcast had – reportedly – been in detailed discussions with Charter as to which bits of Time Warner it would buy if the former’s bid for the latter was successful. Then, after a […]