news corp

Former News Corp. president wants Hulu for $500 million, says report

Former News Corp. President Peter Chernin wants to buy Hulu for about $500 million, Reuters reported today.

Unnamed sources told the news service of Chernin's interest in the video-streaming site. Chernin, a former Hulu board member, helped create Hulu in 2007. He left News Corp. in 2009 to start The Chernin Group, which owns other media companies, such as Pandora Radio.

News Corp. and Walt Disney, which currently own Hulu, were said to have reached out to potential buyers in March.

Providence Equity Partners, one of the Chernin Group's investors, sold its 10 percent stake in Hulu last … Read more

News Corp. readies Amplify Tablet for schools

News Corp. might be known for its range of news outlets, but the company today has unveiled a tablet as well.

At the SXSWedu event in Austin, Texas, today, Amplify, the recently launched education arm of News Corp., unveiled a new tablet. Appropriately named the Amplify Tablet, the device will run on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) and come with a 10-inch display. The device, which is running on the Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core CPU, is designed for children in grades kindergarten through 12 and comes bundled with all kinds of Amplify software designed to improve the learning experience.

According … Read more

News Corp. cans The Daily

News Corp. axes The Daily.

The Daily, which was an ambitious tablet-only news publication backed by News Corp., is shutting its doors December 15. Launched back in February 2011, The Daily was an interactive newspaper stylized for consumption on the iPad. Best of all, a year's subscription went for only $40 and offered a wide variety of sections. While there will be no more issues of The Daily, its brand will live on other channels within News Corp.

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the first text message. On December 3, 1992, SMS pioneer Matti Makkonen successfully sent … Read more

The 404 1,176: Where where Brian admits he has a problem (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Justin wanted to like the modern take on The Rockettes at Friday's showing, didn't.

- Father of SMS reflects on 20th anniversary of first text.

- News Corp shuts down The Daily.

- These companies hate your guts.

- StickNFind Bluetooth stickers are the best idea you didn't think of.

- Apple trying to patent wireless charging.… Read more

Could Yahoo's move away from media be AOL's big chance?

NEW YORK--Yahoo's new direction under CEO Marissa Mayer could be the big chance for AOL, a couple of former tech execs said today.

Ross Levinsohn, who served as interim Yahoo chief executive before Mayer's appointment, and Jon Miller, AOL's former CEO, said during a Business Insider conference in New York that Yahoo's shift away from becoming a media company in favor of focusing on its core tech offerings could be really lucky for AOL.

"It creates an opportunity for AOL I haven't seen for them in a number of years," said Miller, who … Read more

News Corp. puts IGN Entertainment up for auction

News Corp. is taking bids for IGN Entertainment as the media conglomerate tries to divest itself of the network of video game and pop culture Web sites.

News Corp., which paid $650 million in 2005 for the network, expects to get around $100 million for the sale, people involved with the negotiations tell The Wall Street Journal, which is also owned by News Corp. The media giant is formalizing the bidding process as part of its planned separation of publishing assets from its media and entertainment business.

Digital content providers such as Break Media and SAY Media, as well as … Read more

News Corp. digital chief Jon Miller exits

News Corp. digital chief Jonathan Miller is out as of the end of September.

The executive, who had mixed success trying to drag a disparate range of old-media businesses into the digital age -- or, in the case of MySpace, trying to keep it there -- is apparently heading for the exit as a result of the big restructuring that will divide News into two freestanding companies.

AllThingsD first reported Miller's pending departure, which News confirmed with a press release.

It has been a rough season for digital-media execs. Interim Yahoo CEO Ross Levinsohn, who helped stabilize the company … Read more

Hulu's CEO Jason Kilar could be giving up the ship

Big changes may be on the horizon for Hulu. According to an internal memo that entertainment news source Variety got its hands on, CEO Jason Kilar's jig may be up.

The three-page memo, dated from July, lists several possible changes for the streaming service, according to Variety. Of the most striking are the top two bullet points, which say this: "Outline transition plan for new CEO" and "Discuss potential candidates and process."

Kilar has had an up-and-down relationship with backers for the last couple of years. He initiated a rift with Hulu's parent company … Read more

Roku lands $45M in funding, plans hardware, media expansion

Roku, the maker of a popular player for streaming Web content to TV sets, has closed a new round of funding.

The company has landed a $45 million investment from companies including News Corp. and British Sky Broadcasting, it announced today.

Also participating in the round were prior Roku venture investors Menlo Ventures and Globespan Capital Partners, as well as an unnamed strategic investor. In addition to the cash injection, News Corp's chief digital officer, Jon Miller, has joined the Roku board of directors, while Roku CEO Anthony Wood remains chairman.

"Our philosophy is to give consumers the … Read more

Ross Levinsohn gets endorsement for permanent Yahoo CEO job

News Corp. digital media head Jon Miller is bullish on the odds of his friend Ross Levinsohn becoming the permanent chief executive at Yahoo.

"I would bet that Ross Levinsohn will be the CEO of Yahoo," he said today during an interview at the PaidContent 2012 conference in New York.

"Ross is as good a person as exists on the planet [to run Yahoo]," he said.

The two were once partners in a venture firm, Velocity Investment Group, which was formed after Levinsohn resigned as president of Fox Interactive Media and Miller left his post … Read more