Logo

Business Insider; Variety

Report Says Yahoo Was Interested in Buying Scripps Cable Networks and Might Also Be Interested in Buying CNN

Jan 5, 2015  •  Post A Comment

This was the New Year’s day surprise on the Business Insider website:

“For sure, [Yahoo CEO Marissa] Mayer and Yahoo considered acquiring Scripps Networks Interactive. Yahoo considered Scripps during a time when Mayer and other executives thought Yahoo would have billions of dollars to spend following the 2014 IPO of Alibaba….We’ve heard this from two former Yahoo employees.”

Scripps’ networks are HGTV, DIY, Food, the Cooking Channel, Travel Channel and Great American Country.

The story adds, “A media industry source close to Yahoo executives says there were ‘pretty active’ rumors over the summer that Yahoo wanted to buy CNN from Time Warner. Buying CNN would cost Yahoo something like $5 billion or $6 billion, this source speculates.”

The article notes, “It seems pretty unlikely that Yahoo and Scripps will merge anytime soon. It would probably cost Yahoo at least $15 billion to buy Scripps today. Technically, Yahoo could afford that price tag if Scripps shareholders would accept Yahoo stock rather than cash. Yahoo has a market cap that hovers around $50 billion. But Yahoo’s market cap is so large only because it owns sizeable stakes in two very successful Asian internet companies: Alibaba and Yahoo Japan.

Variety, in a follow up story wrote, “The author of the report on Yahoo-Scripps is Nicholas Carlson, who recently published the book ‘Marissa Mayer and the Fight to Save Yahoo.’

“A rep for Yahoo declined comment, citing company policy on addressing rumors or speculation.”

Your Comment

Email (will not be published)