09
January
2005
|
21:17 PM
America/Los_Angeles

Critics? Excellent....SiliconValleyWatcher draws flack from another hack...

by Tom Foremski for SiliconValleyWatcher.com


Lish Woodgate brought this one to my attention, saying: "OK - Now that you have critics, you know your blog is being read seriously... Read below."


Lish points to an entry by Rafat Ali, editor and publisher of "PaidContent.org--the economics of content," a pretty good site monitoring the online media sector. Rafat commented on my recent entry about Dow Jones buying Marketwatch for a heady $519m, and Microsoft selling Slate to the Washington Post.


Old Media Buying New: Anything New?: I am more hopeful than this slightly naive view from Tom Foremski. Always underestimate in the short run and never underestimate in the long run...that's my theory. Again, too much hype...
His question, on the face of it, is a valid question, though the underlying assumptions, like the one about CBS MKTW not being a success, are just too sweeping and again, naive. "Why would two companies that have not made much/any money with online publishing make a success out of buying two online media companies that have not made much/any money publishing online?"


So, it's "slightly naïve" but, it "is a valid question." Rafat, old chap, I bet you can do better than that...spell it out, to your readers, to us.....explain why this acquisition makes sense to you.


I think I set up a decent argument that Dow Jones has paid a lot of money for an online business that wasn't doing that well. Combining two businesses that haven't figured out how to profit online does not make it a good deal. I would not want to be responsible for the return on capital investment on that one over a five-year period.


Or maybe Rafat felt the need to show some support for one of his editorial contributors to PaidContent.Org, none other than Larry Kramer, CEO and founder of CBS Marketwatch. Here are some of Larry's entries:


http://www.paidcontent.org/contentnext/larry_kramer/index.php


By the way, my original entry title and question was "Old media buying new-ish media, will it make a difference?"


I'll explain why "new-ish media" is important in that title here:


"New-ish new media companies face formidable competitive challenges from today's emerging new media companies."