International Herald Tribune
08-17-2005
News Corp. is in discussions to acquire Blinkx, a service that scours the World Wide Web for video and audio clips and organizes them automatically in folders. Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp., has made clear that it is eager to build a presence on the Internet. He said in a conference call last week that the company was ''in very advanced negotiations to buy a controlling interest in what we think is a wonderful search engine.'' However, the talks between the companies were not as advanced as Murdoch indicated, a person briefed on those discussions said Monday. The person asked not to be identified because the talks were confidential. Representatives for News Corp. and Blinkx declined to comment. The talks were first reported by The Los Angeles Times. The value of a potential deal is unclear, but Murdoch had said he did not contemplate spending nearly as much on a single company as the $580 million he recently agreed to pay for Intermix Media, which operates the popular site MySpace.com. Murdoch has said that he was willing to spend $1 billion to $2 billion to acquire Web businesses through Fox Interactive Media, a new division of News Corp. In addition to Intermix, the company recently paid $60 million for Scout.com, a Web company that helps people follow athletes and sports teams. Blinkx, a closely held private company, is a newcomer in the surging search business, which is led by Google and Yahoo. But Blinkx is focused on a medium video that is expected to attract both audiences and advertisers as the number of homes with broadband Internet connections grows. The service offers a couple of twists on the practice of entering a query and getting screen filled with quick responses. Once a ''smart folder'' on a particular subject is created, the service will continue to compile relevant material in that folder and to update it, even when the computer is off. Once installed on a computer desktop, Blinkx's software can determine from the information being viewed on the screen what else might be relevant. For instance, if someone is reading an article on Greek mythology, a search for ''Apollo'' would list results for the Greek god ahead of results for the Apollo space program or the theater in Harlem. Blinkx also has arrangements with established media companies that make video content available to it; one deal, with The New York Times and its about.com affiliate, was announced last month.
2005 Copyright International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com
No comments:
Post a Comment