Head + Up + Ass=$650 Million
I've had a little more time to think about that IGN buyout and it's the funniest damn thing I've seen in months.Last year IGN had 42M in sales and lost 14.3M. That means News Corp paid sixteen times sales for a company that loses money at a relatively prodigious rate.
I bet if you asked a crackhead what they'd pay for a company with barely forty million in sales and no profits, they wouldn't go over a hundred million. And those people smoke crack.
So we've now officially entered the second phase of the Great Internet Land Rush. This one, though, is gaming-specific. Companies who have totally ignored the social and cultural impact of gaming have suddenly opened their eyes and started screaming "WE'RE LATE!" Now they're all going to be desperate to buy something, anything related to gaming.
And like I said in a previous column, don't think Electronic Arts isn't in play, because they are. There could be no better time for them to sell out than now--mainstream business hysteria over gaming is at an all-time high, and EA is groaning from their own size. And from a standpoint of "fit," here's your answer for the most likely suitor: Walt Disney.
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