Exhibit 99.1
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For Immediate Release
News Corporation to Acquire IGN Entertainment, Inc.
Acquisition Includes IGN's Popular GameWeb Properties, as well as Planet
Network, Rotten Tomatoes and AskMen.com
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New York, NY, September 8, 2005 - News Corporation announced today that it had
signed a definitive agreement to acquire IGN Entertainment, Inc, a leading
community-based Internet media and services company for video games and other
forms of digital entertainment, for approximately $650 million in cash. IGN
and its network of sites will become part of News Corporation's Fox
Interactive Media unit.
The acquisition of IGN underscores News Corporation's commitment to expand its
internet presence by offering a deeper, richer online experience for its
millions of passionate users. News Corporation previously announced, and is in
the process of closing, its acquisitions of Intermix, with its highly popular
MySpace.com web site, and leading college sports destination Scout Media,
which will further enrich the Company's successful FOXSports.com.
With the addition of IGN, Intermix and Scout Media to the existing Fox-branded
sites, News Corporation's U.S. web traffic will increase to nearly 70 million
unique monthly users and more than 12 billion page impressions per month,
putting the Company in the top echelon of most trafficked sites on the
Internet today. The combined sites will also provide a powerful
cross-promotional opportunity for Fox's television and film content and enable
the company to more efficiently introduce new products and services using its
enhanced web presence.
IGN's major video game-related properties include IGN.com, GameSpy, GameSpy
Arena, FilePlanet, TeamXbox, 3D Gamers, Direct2Drive, GameStats.com and a
number of web sites within the Vault and Planet networks. IGN also owns and
operates two entertainment web properties focused on movie-related content,
IGN FilmForce and Rotten Tomatoes, and a male lifestyle web site, AskMen.com.
In addition, it provides technology for online game play in video games.
Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said:
"With the acquisition of IGN and its 28 million unique users, we have gone a
long way toward achieving two of our key strategic objectives in our efforts
to become a leading and profitable internet presence. First, we have
significantly enhanced our online reach, strengthening our position as the
fifth most trafficked presence on the web. We also become the fourth largest
network in terms of monthly page impressions. And second, we have furthered
our strategy to leverage the unique competencies the company enjoys with its
news, sports, and entertainment assets to create a leading internet
destination. By acquiring IGN and its compelling sites, we now have top
entertainment sites to go along with FOXSports.com, as well as our myriad news
sites, headlined by FOXNews.com."
Mark Jung, IGN Entertainment's Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We believe
that Fox Interactive Media is an ideal fit with IGN Entertainment. With this
combination, our users will enjoy access to a broad array of content and
services covering video games, music, movies, sports and news, and our
advertisers will benefit from enormous reach into a highly sought-after
demographic. We are thrilled with this acquisition and can't wait to get
started."
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of calendar 2005.
The transaction is subject to all applicable regulatory approvals. IGN's chief
executive officer, Mark Jung, will continue in his role following the
completion of the acquisition. Mr. Jung will report to Ross Levinsohn,
President of Fox Interactive Media.
ABOUT NEWS CORPORATION
News Corporation (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) had total assets as of
June 30, 2005 of approximately US$55 billion and total annual revenues of
approximately US$24 billion. News Corporation is a diversified international
media and entertainment company with operations in eight industry segments:
filmed entertainment; television; cable network programming; direct broadcast
satellite television; magazines and inserts; newspapers; book publishing; and
other. The activities of News Corporation are conducted principally in the
United States, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and the
Pacific Basin.
ABOUT FOX INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Fox Interactive Media (FIM) manages the growing stable of interactive assets
from all News Corp. divisions - including the highly trafficked,
www.foxsports.com, www.foxnews.com and www.fox.com. FIM's mission is to create
a robust broadband experience that will provide the ultimate home base for
users' news, information, entertainment and community needs. The new division
is also pursuing strategic investments to further enhance the Internet
experience, such as the recently announced agreements to acquire Intermix,
parent company of social networking leader, MySpace, Grab.com and Alena and
the leading sports site Scout Media.
ABOUT IGN ENTERTAINMENT
IGN Entertainment is a leading Internet media and services company focused on
the video game and entertainment enthusiast markets, attracting more than 28
million unique monthly users. The company's network of videogame-related
properties (IGN.com, GameSpy, FilePlanet, TeamXbox, Direct2Drive and others),
is the web's number one video game information destination and attracts one of
the largest concentrated audiences of young males on the Internet. IGN also
owns and operates the popular movie-related website, Rotten Tomatoes and one
of the leading male lifestyle websites, AskMen.com. In addition, IGN provides
technology for online game play in video games. The company is headquartered
in the San Francisco Bay Area, with offices throughout the U.S. IGN
Entertainment, IGN.com, GameSpy, AskMen.com, Rotten Tomatoes, FilePlanet,
TeamXbox, 3D Gamers, Direct2Drive, GameStats.com and IGN FilmForce are
trademarks of IGN Entertainment, Inc.
Contacts:
Teri Everett 310-369-2929
Investors - Reed Nolte 212-852-7092