Disney's sports arm buys cricket website with 7m users
12/06/2007 |
 |
 |
Disney's US sports network ESPN has acquired cricket website Cricinfo for an undisclosed sum.
The 14-year-old Cricinfo operation was one of the first content sites on the internet and has built a loyal following among cricket fans. Cricinfo has a global audience of 7 million unique users each month, publishing news, interviews, live scores, match animations and video coverage.
Cricinfo also publishes content for news portals and for mobile phones.
The site is an important acquisition for ESPN, which also operates ESPNsoccernet and ESPN.com, among others. "Growing our business in the online world is vital for us to serve sports fans," said Russell Wolff, the managing director of ESPN International. "Cricinfo is a tremendous property with a great fan base and it will be a strong addition to ESPN."
ESPN will keep the Cricinfo brand separate and could begin to expand its video content to develop Cricinfo.tv, according to an open letter from Sambit Bal, the editor, on the website today.
Mr Bal said the lead-up to the acquisition had been fraught, but insisted the site would retain its independence.
"To all of us who love cricket, Cricinfo is a phenomenon, a cult, a faith. It is one of the true wonders of the internet," he said.
"It owes its inception to passion, ingenuity and innovation and its survival and growth is a triumph of the entrepreneurial spirit that infected everyone who came in touch with it," he added.
"The internet is a restless and hungry medium: to stay contemporary and relevant, it needs fresh ideas and, let's not be coy about it, fresh investments."
Mr Bal said the site had been acquired because it was successful, and reassured readers, saying ESPN was not a venture capital firm but a sports broadcaster with a strong online presence.
Cricinfo was founded in 1993 as an online community for cricket fans. It received major investment in 1999 from Indian IT firm Sify in return for a majority stake, and in 2003 was bought by Mark Getty's cricket media business, the Wisden Group. Mr Getty said today's acquisition by ESPN would provide "the perfect environment for Cricinfo to release its enormous potential". Last month Mr Getty sold the Wisden Cricketer magazine to BSkyB and The Oldie to a group of private investors led by the monthly title's former business manager James Pembroke.
(Source: Guardian.co.uk)
|
| Back |
|
|
|
|
 |
