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CNET Acquisitions
For the past several months, I have been watching and considering an investment in CNET Networks, precisely because of its attractiveness of individual assets, which if spun off could suggest a much higher total worth than the current $1.3 billion. However, upon closer inspection of the individual parts, I am still not convinced that the sum of its parts, under current conditions, is worth more than its 1.3 billion. CNET is currently carrying too much fat and producing mediocre returns on their prime jewels. Take for instance News.com, which as suggested by the NY Times produced in October a mere 6 million page views, compared to 8 million page views produced by a small group of bloggers with minimal costs over at TechCrunch.
The key of course, is finding buyers for CNET’s crown jewels, which are:
- TV.com – This is currently a site which alone could be worth more than CNET’s current market cap, but the focus of the site is its main problem. TV.com is aimed at providing a TV guide resource – big mistake!
Instead, TV.com could become the place to go for TV watching, think YouTube or Hulu. Capitalize on the millions of confused visitors coming in from the highly marketed .TV extension. Strike deals with media companies to stream television through TV.com. Stream everything under the sun! Sell the idea to Mark Cuban, sell it to Murdoch. Try to get a link from future generation television sets that are integrated with wireless internet, so that TV.com is the link to online television. How many people are looking to buy a TV and just type TV.com? Have a section in the site for TV purchases, cable subscription services.
The current site is probably 10 to 15% of the traffic and revenues it could achieve.
My current price – $100 to 500 million. Future worth with minimal refocus – $1 to 5 billion.
- News.com – When you type News.com, the first thing you see is technology news. Get over it. If I want technology news, I will type TechnologyNews.com, Technology.News.com, or TechCrunch.com. I don’t even want to know how many of CNET’s 2,600 employees it takes to run this charitable venture costing investors $16.65 million last quarter. Again, as TV.com, News.com is being used for less than 15% of its capacity.
When I type in News.com, it should be news about everything. I want to see videos of what’s happening around the world. I want to get international perspectives for what is happening in the war in Iraq. People should find ALL possible resources on news information and be able to interact and contribute. Oh so many possibilities!
My current price – $50 to 300 million. Future worth – $0.5 to 1 billion.
- Download.com is fairly well developed and should fetch a good price. I don’t have specifics on how much it costs them to offer what they claim to be a, “a rigorous testing process to ensure it is safe and spyware free”. Unless this rigorous testing process is subsidizing a considerable number of employees, an automated system should not represent a considerable cost. Advertising money here should be flowing comfortably in the black.
My current price $50 to 150 million.
- Search.com – Wow, these people really knew how to pick their names. However, as Google becomes a household synonym for “search” I am less confident in this domain than what I would have been five years ago. I would assume that this is a rapidly depreciating asset and should have been shopped around much earlier. Sell it to Sahar Sarid for his search venture Assista. I am sure he’d appreciate the value it can bring to own the direct synonym to Google in his quest to take a bite of that space.
My current price $10 to 20 million (perhaps more depending on current traffic and revenue numbers)
- Chat.com – Give me a break! This baby redirects to cnet.com? Yes, it should be a crime punishable to death. Chat.com has no home of its own. I’ve personally shopped around to buy chat ccTLDs and have already developed one into a chat site. These sites are great, because they are cheap to build and to maintain, and user loyalty is huge. Chat.com is a dream domain with immense potential. I want it.
Suggestions for this site are obvious – build chat channels and capitalize on the type-in traffic, which will serve as the commencement of an avalanche of visitors. These people spend 20, 40, 60 minutes straight in a page. Even at $2 CPMs, this is one site that could produce millions. Instead, old grandpa CNET reasons – if they type in chat.com it must be they want to read technology product reviews! Shame on you CNET.
My price $300k cash, right now! OK, seriously – $5 to 10 million – and the 10 is pushing it, because there’s no community. This is just a domain name purchase.
Future worth – $10 to 50 million easy.
Mp3.com – $5 million
GameSpot.com – $4 million
ZDNet.com – 3 million
TechRepublic.com – $2 million
mySimon.com – $1 million
UrbanBaby.com – $500k
Chow.com – $300k
As you can see from current conditions, a $1.3 billion market cap is reasonably priced. Yes, many of us see potential in a much higher worth, given the properties they own, but right now there is no bargain investment in CNET unless you have the power to enforce radical changes to current management or have faith in Jana’s capacity to push for that change.
2008 Internet Predictions
To continue with the tradition of those who like to make predictions for the New Year, I have recovered an old crystal ball which has shown me the following Internet changes coming for the year 2008:
1. Big search engines will update their algorithm to favor country code top level domains (ccTLDs) in local search related queries.
2. As a result, in part, of number 1 prices and liquidity of ccTLDs will rise.
3. .mobi will continue to gain momentum, even though I have opposing feelings about this extension.
4. People will learn to understand the importance of IDNs and the value of these will rise – specifically for one word IDNs under the corresponding ccTLD or under the .com and .org.
5. Thousands of wannabe land rushers will flock to try and get a piece of China’s Internet population – and like in the West, most will fail.
6. General Internet users will be more knowledgeable of the Internet and search – reducing Type-in traffic for common words under the .com extension.
7. Many successful Internet ventures will start as tools built for users within Social networks, and no longer start from a single proprietary website.
8. A top Internet executive will be arrested.
Hey, don’t argue with me. This is what the crystal ball showed me, and it was very dusty.
May this New Year bring much love and happiness to all.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Casas.net Obtiene Generosa Valoración
En la tarde de ayer, participé en la subasta de Snapnames para el nombre “casas.net” y he quedado impresionado y satisfecho con la oferta final que este nombre obtuvo. Yo estaba preparado a ofrecer solamente $3,000 por el nombre ya que mis posiciones fuertes de dominios son en .com y en los cctld. Sin embrago, el nombre recibió una demanda espectacular, cerrando en $12,111.00.
Otra nota interesante es que yo pedí el nombre tanto en NameJet como en Snapnames, y a pesar de que estoy generalmente teniendo mejores resultados con Namejet, Snapnames fue el ganador de este drop.
Abajo le dejo con el historial de las pujas para su entretenimiento:
Bidder Date Bid Amount Comment
davidfernand 02-Nov-2007 13:34 PDT $12,111.00 Auction Completed
davidfernand 02-Nov-2007 12:19 PDT $12,111.00 Bid Placed
nrnf 02-Nov-2007 12:19 PDT $12,000.00 Bid Placed
nrnf 02-Nov-2007 12:15 PDT $11,611.00 Bid Placed
davidfernand 02-Nov-2007 12:13 PDT $11,111.00 Bid Placed
vaxis 02-Nov-2007 12:11 PDT $10,611.00 Bid Placed
nrnf 02-Nov-2007 12:10 PDT $10,111.00 Bid Placed
davidfernand 02-Nov-2007 12:10 PDT $10,013.00 Bid Placed
davidfernand 02-Nov-2007 12:07 PDT $8,763.00 Bid Placed
vaxis 02-Nov-2007 12:07 PDT $8,513.00 Bid Placed
davidfernand 02-Nov-2007 12:05 PDT $8,263.00 Bid Placed
fatjobbie 02-Nov-2007 12:01 PDT $8,013.00 Bid Placed
nrnf 02-Nov-2007 12:01 PDT $7,777.00 Bid Placed
nrnf 02-Nov-2007 11:56 PDT $7,750.00 Bid Placed
manuelcabeza 02-Nov-2007 11:56 PDT $7,500.00 Bid Placed
manuelcabeza 02-Nov-2007 11:54 PDT $4,200.00 Bid Placed
pelayos 02-Nov-2007 11:54 PDT $4,100.00 Bid Placed
manuelcabeza 02-Nov-2007 10:52 PDT $4,000.00 Bid Placed
pelayos 02-Nov-2007 10:52 PDT $3,900.00 Bid Placed
manuelcabeza 02-Nov-2007 10:52 PDT $3,800.00 Bid Placed
pelayos 02-Nov-2007 10:52 PDT $3,700.00 Bid Placed
manuelcabeza 02-Nov-2007 10:22 PDT $3,600.00 Bid Placed
cavalcanti99 02-Nov-2007 10:22 PDT $3,500.00 Bid Placed
manuelcabeza 02-Nov-2007 09:04 PDT $2,100.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 02-Nov-2007 04:58 PDT $2,050.00 Bid Placed
tosk 02-Nov-2007 04:58 PDT $2,000.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 02-Nov-2007 04:58 PDT $1,950.00 Bid Placed
tosk 02-Nov-2007 04:57 PDT $1,900.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 02-Nov-2007 04:57 PDT $1,850.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 31-Oct-2007 04:03 PDT $1,750.00 Bid Placed
pelayos 31-Oct-2007 03:43 PDT $1,700.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 30-Oct-2007 21:27 PDT $1,650.00 Bid Placed
qubo 30-Oct-2007 21:27 PDT $1,600.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 30-Oct-2007 15:12 PDT $1,550.00 Bid Placed
pelayos 30-Oct-2007 15:11 PDT $1,500.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 30-Oct-2007 15:11 PDT $1,450.00 Bid Placed
pelayos 30-Oct-2007 15:11 PDT $1,400.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 30-Oct-2007 14:52 PDT $1,350.00 Bid Placed
hormiga 30-Oct-2007 14:52 PDT $1,300.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 30-Oct-2007 14:52 PDT $1,250.00 Bid Placed
hormiga 30-Oct-2007 14:51 PDT $1,000.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 30-Oct-2007 14:49 PDT $975.00 Bid Placed
gh internet 30-Oct-2007 14:49 PDT $950.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 30-Oct-2007 14:01 PDT $825.00 Bid Placed
eporcino 30-Oct-2007 14:01 PDT $800.00 Bid Placed
eporcino 30-Oct-2007 13:10 PDT $750.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 30-Oct-2007 13:10 PDT $725.00 Bid Placed
eporcino 30-Oct-2007 13:10 PDT $700.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 30-Oct-2007 13:10 PDT $675.00 Bid Placed
eporcino 30-Oct-2007 13:10 PDT $650.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 30-Oct-2007 13:10 PDT $625.00 Bid Placed
eporcino 30-Oct-2007 13:10 PDT $600.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 30-Oct-2007 12:33 PDT $525.00 Bid Placed
42sn 30-Oct-2007 12:33 PDT $500.00 Bid Placed
42sn 30-Oct-2007 12:27 PDT $450.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 30-Oct-2007 12:27 PDT $425.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 30-Oct-2007 12:27 PDT $424.00 Bid Placed
piety 30-Oct-2007 12:27 PDT $399.00 Bid Placed
piety 30-Oct-2007 12:25 PDT $300.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 30-Oct-2007 12:25 PDT $275.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 30-Oct-2007 12:16 PDT $200.00 Bid Placed
piety 30-Oct-2007 12:15 PDT $190.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 30-Oct-2007 12:14 PDT $180.00 Bid Placed
realestatebr 30-Oct-2007 12:14 PDT $170.00 Bid Placed
realestatebr 30-Oct-2007 12:10 PDT $120.00 Bid Placed
piety 30-Oct-2007 11:53 PDT $110.00 Bid Placed
namegeek 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $100.00 Initial Bid
eporcino 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $100.00 Initial Bid
oskr 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $91.00 Initial Bid
nrnf 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $89.00 Initial Bid
saggydimes 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $79.00 Initial Bid
toplawyer 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $70.00 Initial Bid
itnet 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $70.00 Initial Bid
jodigirl 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $70.00 Initial Bid
pm87435 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $61.00 Initial Bid
hormiga 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid
play 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid
incresa 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid
loopingmedia 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid
qubo 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid
tosk 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid
manuelcabeza 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid
cavalcanti99 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid
nastyinca 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid
lightning 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid
domainname 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid
frisky 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid
1002626 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid
42sn 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid
aligned 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid
pelayos 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
vitorhugocos 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
fhfg489d4 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
duph 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
tsunamypower 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
webfreesnap 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
snaps 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
vaxis 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
benfranklin 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
rocket 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
invisibleguy 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
halvarez 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
bolsa 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
davidfernand 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
comercio 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
cyberair7 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
cirus 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
smudger 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
andino 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
floes 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
mixalakis 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
namepros.com 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
michaelg1234 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
bigmooli 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
creekway 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
jasebud 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
hydrobob 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
bluesymphony 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
lynchq 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
realestatebr 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
ktyongman 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
gh internet 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
thevirtual 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
milinkovic 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
piety 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
fatjobbie 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
azuca21 30-Oct-2007 11:43 PDT $59.00 Initial Bid
Rafael Sosa's Weblog 