Social news site Newsvine, which launched in March 2006, has been acquired by MSNBC.com, a fifty-fifty joint venture between Microsoft and NBC. This is MSNBC.com’s first acquisition.
The deal, which closed on October 5, was all cash, but the acquisition price is not being disclosed. Both companies are based in Seattle. Mike Davidson, the founder of Newsvine, said that the companies will continue operating separately but that technology integration will occur over time. MSNBC has around 200 employees; Newsvine has just six.
This is just crazy. Have you seen Newsvine? It pretends to be a citizen journalism site, but in fact all you see is AP news there. It has absolutely no added value, other than that it possible for the whole moron world to comment on each AP story. Big win.
MSNBC is a Microsoft and NBC company, both respectable commercial companies. Why do they invest in this crap?
