We’re starting to get more details about the sale of msnbc.com to NBCUniversal, a deal which took place last summer and resulted in the online news operation changing its name to NBCNews.com.
A new SEC filing from Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal, indicates that the 50 percent stake owned by Microsoft was valued at $195 million. That’s far less than what The New York Times estimated at the time of the sale, noting in its report that Microsoft could get up to $300 million for the news operation.
NBCNews.com continues to be based in Redmond on the Microsoft campus, but we’ve heard that a number of staffers have been asked to relocate to New York while the company continues to look for office space in Seattle to accommodate its staff here. Several top msnbc.com execs, including editor-in-chief Jennifer Sizemore and president Charlie Tillinghast, have since left the company.
Microsoft had operated the msnbc.com business with NBC News for 16 years.
Here’s more from the SEC filing:
The total purchase price was $195 million, which was net of $100 million of cash and cash equivalents held at MSNBC.com that were acquired in the transaction, which were not previously attributable to NBCUniversal. Following the close of the transaction, MSNBC.com is a wholly owned consolidated subsidiary of NBCUniversal.
