NEWS CORP CONTINUES SHOPPING... IGN FOR $650 MILLION

Interesting that they bought these guys. Two sites I like within IGN are GameSpy and Rotten Tomatoes.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. agreed to buy IGN Entertainment Inc., which runs video-game related Web sites, for $650 million as part of a plan to expand the media company's Internet business.

IGN's sites include GameSpy.com and IGN.com as well as Rottentomatoes.com, a movie-fan site., the companies said today in an e-mailed statement. News Corp., the No. 4 media company, will pay cash for Brisbane, California-based IGN.

The deal marks Murdoch's third Internet purchase since July and underscores the importance of online advertising at traditional media companies. New York-based News Corp. is seeking to tap a 15 percent increase in Web marketing this year, the fastest pace of any form of media. Ad sales at top TV networks will rise 2 percent.

"All of the media companies are interested in the Internet," said Peter Jankovskis, director of research at Lisle, Illinois- based Oakbrook Investments LLC., which owns News Corp. shares among its $1.3 billion in assets. "They have to go where the advertiser dollars are going." (full article)