Stockgroup Information Systems Inc. has renamed itself to Stockhouse, Inc. (OTCBB: STKH) in order to align the financial data provider's corporate identity with its popular investor portal at Stockhouse.com. The decision to change its name was approved by nearly 97% of its shareholders. The rebranding of the corporate website and its divisions will take place over the summer.
In a move to bolster its technology news coverage and to grow its online audience, CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS) has offered $1.8 billion in cash to acquire CNet Networks (Nasdaq: CNET). The $11.50 per share price tag was a 40% premium over the closing price of CNET stock on Wednesday. In a conference call, CBS's CEO Leslie Moonves explained that CBS was attracted to CNet's sizable online audience. The two companies can also reduce expenses by combining operations and boost spending by advertisers across two ad platforms. Websites operated by CNET include technology news hub News.com and BNET.com, a business resource portal. (Disclaimer: FinancialContent, a sponsor of his blog, is a provider of online financial channel solutions to both CBS Corporation and CNET Networks.)
The Wall Street Journal Digital Network has appointed Sarabjit "Ruby" Walia to the role of chief technology officer where he will be managing technology for websites that include WSJ.com, Barrons.com and MarketWatch.com. Prior to joining Dow Jones, Mr. Walia was group chief information officer for Financial Dynamics as well as chief information officer for NBC Universal.
Bloomberg has named Norman Pearlstine to the newly-created position of Chief Content Officer, a partnership role with Bloomberg News Founder and Editor-in-Chief Matthew Winkler to seek growth opportunities for Bloomberg's diverse media properties. Pearlstine had been a partner at buyout firm Carlyle Group for the past two years. Pearlstine and Winkler had previously worked together in the 1980s at The Wall Street Journal.
In its quarterly earnings call, News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) has identified the Enterprise Media Group as the biggest area of growth for Dow Jones, which the media conglomerate recently acquired. Dow Jones Indexes boasted a revenue increase of 37% versus year-ago levels while Factiva's revenues rose 10%.
News Analysis: Rumors of a joint bid by Microsoft and News Corp. to acquire Yahoo hint at the possibility of a higher offer. Clearly, Microsoft is going after the search engine business in order to better compete against Google. Meanwhile, News Corp. may be looking at strategic assets that complement MySpace and its Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal/Marketwatch operations. This scenario allows Microsoft to lower its bid to $27 a share while letting News Corp. add at least $6 a share to the offer. Of course, the board of Yahoo may still balk at $33 a share, but most of its shareholders are likely to embrace such a deal.
