Deal Note: Photobucket
Not much to say on this one.
1) A classic vertical integration to control a noisy supplier play.
2) A relative
"steal" - yeah - but because the value isn't strategic, it's tactical
3) ...ie, stop bugging us, and let Myspace get on with the incredibly serious business of meeting the corporate bottom line.
4) The biggie: in my opinion, FIM/Myspace's first real strategic error. It tells us the assumptions behind their thinking: that
closed beats open. The acquisition is really a way to keep the Myspace ecosystem closed.
Of course, it's exactly the reverse that's true. It's in total contradiction of the very reason Myspace is successful.
If I was Rupert, I would be schooling the Myspace guys right about now.
Oh wait - I'd be too busy getting a Dow Jones smackdown... :)