CNET founder Halsey Minor, 44, is being sued for $60 million by several creditors.  Generally when one is sued by creditors it usually means that you have not been paying them even though you owe them. Minor currently owns his own venture capital firm in San Francisco, Calif.

Minor quit CNET in 2000 with a stake that was worth well over $100 million.  CNET was acquired by CBS for $1.8 billion in May 2008.  After leaving the company, Minor made $300 million from being an early investor in Salesforce.com.  Minor lost half of that when he divorced his wife Deborah in 2006.  Minor did not hesitate in buying up lavish real estate.

He bought a mansion for $15.3 million in Williamsburg, Virginia, a $20 million glass home in Bel Air, and a $22 million 18,000 square foot mansion in San Francisco.  Minor plans to sink an additional $15 million in the San Francisco mansion.  Minor also made plans to invest $30 million in a 9 story building in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia.  He hired Michael Smith to design the interior of all of his new properties.  Smith is the same man that decorated John Thain and Steven Spielberg’s homes.

Minor has seen its share of successful and failed investments.  Minor invested $4 million in Grand Central which Google bought for $50 million.  But Minor’s investment in 8020 Publishing, a glossy magazine went down in flames.  All of 8020’s assets were liquidated to private investors.

The Bel-Air mansion that Minor paid $20 million for is currently being sold.  He listed the 7,500 square foot mansion for $11.4 million after losing a lawsuit against the previous home owner.  There are several issues with the house that Minor was not happy about.

Some of the other lawsuits that Minor is dealing with revolve around the hotel project and painting payments.  Minor refused to pay for three paintings that he agreed to buy in May for $16.8 million.  Another auction company is accusing Minor for not buying $7 million worth of paintings that he bid on this past July.

The Landmark Hotel in downtown Charlottesville stopped receiving payments from Minor too.  Minor took a $23.7 million loan from Silverton Bank, but Minor has missed $10.5 million in payments so far.  Landmark is suing him for that reason.

On top of all of those real estate issues, Minor reportedly put down a $3 million deposit this past summer for a $58.5 million Gulfstream G650 jet, but last December he decided to get his deposit back.

[via PEHUB]

Dan Rosensweig is the former COO of Yahoo! Inc. and former President of CNET.  Now Rosensweig is getting into gaming by joining Activision Blizzard Inc. to head up the Guitar Hero franchise.  Rosensweig quit Yahoo! in 2006 after working there for five years in product development and marketing.  Rosensweig left around the same time Terry Semel did.

Coincidentally Activision’s current CEO Bobby Kotick served on the Yahoo! board of directors up until last year.  When Rosensweig left Yahoo!, he worked at Quadrangle Group.  Quadrangle is a private equity firm based out of New York. Rosensweig was the Silicon Valley representation of the firm.

Rosensweig’s responsibilities at Activision will be to maintain the whole Guitar Hero franchise.  The franchise was put together by Activision’s Red Octane unit and Neversoft studios.  Guitar Hero has had three blockbuster games in the franchise, but some analysts believe that the growth for music games may be slowing down.  Rosenweig needs to make sure Guitar Hero does not become obsolete.

“With a platform and content that universally engages a wide range of audiences, Guitar Hero has incredible growth potential,” stated Rosensweig. “I look forward to continuing to develop Guitar Hero into an even more successful enterprise.”

[via LAT]

Fresh after being acquired by CBS, CNET has made an acquisition of their own.  CNET China bought 55BBS.com, a Chinese lifestyle forum website.  President of CNET China, Lu Wang announced that they paid over 10 million yuan ($1.45 million) cash for the site.

Given 55BBS.com’s traffic ranking, the acquisition amount seems pretty low.  But it does give Hua Han, founder of 55BBS a pretty nice payday.  55BBS’ primary content is shopping, food, wedding, travel, etc.  There are over 800,000 users that submit 100,000 posts daily.

This is one of the first major acquisitions made by CNET China since they bough Xcar, a Chinese automotive forum in July 2006.  CNET also bough Fengniao, a Chinese photography website in October 2004.

“There are very few opportunities to acquire a profitable, growing, well-managed Internet company like CNET Networks,” stated CBS CEO, Leslie Moonves. “CBS stands for premium content and unparalleled reach, and CNET Networks will add a tremendous platform to extend our complementary entertainment, news, sports, music and information content to a whole new global audience. Together, CBS and CNET Networks will have significant additional exposure to the fastest- growing advertising sector and can accelerate our growth through a number of new content, promotion and advertising initiatives. We could not be more pleased with the prospect of adding CNET Networks and its tremendous team of people to the CBS family. I look forward to working with Quincy Smith, Neil Ashe and the considerable combined talent at both companies, as we build upon our success.”

CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS) announced today that they have entered an agreement to acquired CNET Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNET).  Leslie Moonves, President and CEO of CBS made the announcement.  CBS will pay $11.50 per share in cash for all issued and outstanding shares.  This amount represents $1.8 billion.  CBS has now become one of the top 10 most popular Internet companies.  CBS and CNET combined receives 54 million unique visitors per month and has 200 million users.

In 2007, CNET made $406 million in revenues through its various Internet properties.  CNET owns News.com, ZDNet, CNet.com, GameSpot.com, MP3.com, UrbanBaby, TV.com, TechRepublic, MySimon, BNET, Search.com, and CHOW.  The content on these sites will be integrated into CBS’ Internet properties: CBS.com, CBS Radio, Wallstrip, last.fm, MaxPreps.com, CBSCollegeSports.com, CBSSports.com, MobLogic, and CBS’ TV stations.

“The core businesses of CNET Networks and CBS Interactive represent near perfect category symmetry in premium online content,” said Quincy Smith, President, CBS Interactive. “Together we will have a terrific opportunity to not only grow our established businesses, but to build new attractive verticals of content as well. This is the beginning of an era for both CBS and CNET Networks; plus, it’s going to be great to work with Neil and his team, many of whom I have known for many years.”

This acquisition also ends CNET’s fight with Jana Partners, a hedge fund that wanted more control over the board.  CNET recently signed a joint advertisement partnership with Yahoo!  Yesterday, I also wrote about how CBS agreed to a partnership with the producers of KateModern and LonelyGirl15.  CBS is making very strategic Internet moves.  These are some solid partnerships and acquisitions.

Information Sources:
[1] News.com: CBS to buy CNET Networks by Margaret Kane
[2] CBS Corporation Press Release: CBS Corporation To Acquire CNET Networks, Inc.
[3] paidContent: BREAKING: CBS Acquiring CNET For $1.8 Billion; 44.6 Percent Premium by Joseph Weisenthal