News Corp. has inked a $650 million deal to purchase the IGN Network — including IGN.com, Gamespy, Rotten Tomatoes, Team XBox, GameStats, AskMen, and more — and make it part of the Fox Interactive Media division.
“This is a perfect partnership,” IGN CEO Mark Jung said in an interview. “I think the opportunity to build our market share is huge.”
The purchase seems to be part of ongoing competition with Fox rival Viacom, who has also been expanding their Internet holdings with the purchase of Neopets in June and was also considered a frontrunner in the IGN bid. Earlier this year, Fox also purchased sports website Scout Media Inc and networking site MySpace, trying to capture a share of a hard-to-reach youth demographic. None of the 230 IGN employees are expected to be laid off as a result of the buyout.
Rumors have it that Al Gore’s Current TV network has made an offer to purchase MyGamer for $6.50 and a six pack of Heineken.