For Yahoo, it’s a substantial investment in media at a time when the company’s every move is under a microscope. Yahoo Sports is part of SVP Scott Moore’s portfolio. He explained the acquisition in an interview Wednesday:
-- “From a business standpoint, they have a robust subscription business around their communities. We think that is highly leverage-able. They’ve really become vertical social networks.” Rivals has about 185,000 subscribers who pay $99.95 annually or $9.95 a month; most are annual subs. The company turned profitable in the past 12-18 months.
-- Rivals.com relies on an extensive network of local publishers; due diligence on those contracts took considerable time but Moore said the distribution deals were assignable.
Yahoo was on the verge of acquiring college sports network Rivals.com.
The terms aren’t being released but the amount is close to the $100 million we reported earlier.
FIM paid $60 million for competitor Scout.com in September 2005.
