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