Viacom Inc. Wanted MySpace, But Does Not Want Facebook
Amit Chowdhry | Thursday October 5, 2006 | 564 views
Chairman of Viacom Inc., Sumner Redstone had recently recounted the experience of losing the MySpace deal to News Corp as a “a humiliating experience.” Redstone was interviewed by Charlie Rose, who is a talkshow host on PBS. Redstone admitted that he had ordered former CEO of Viacom, Tom Freston to close the deal on MySpace, but it never went through, which is one of the factors on why Freston was removed from his position.
Redstone admitted putting up $500 million for the acquisition of MySpace: “Before Rupert got into the act, MySpace was sitting there for $500 million and Tom didn’t take it.” Tom Anderson is the founder of MySpace. Redstone also followed this up by stating that the value of MySpace now is at $1.5 billion. In terms of valuation of MySpace for the future, ZDNet reports that MySpace could be worth $15 billion within 3 years.
As you may know, Facebook is in talks with Yahoo! for a $1 billion acquisition, but according to Redstone, Viacom would not pursue Facebook at that price. “We looked at it,” Sumner stated. “The price is too high.”
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