Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Bertelsman Seeks to Buy Napster

Posted by timothy on from the buy-it-all-let-god-sort-them-out dept.

jbc writes: "SF Gate is one of several places carrying the story that Bertelsman, which already invested a significant amount of money in Napster, is now looking to buy Napster outright. This is based on an interview with Bertelsman CEO Thomas Middelhoff that was published last week in the German newspaper Die Welt."

13 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. Sure, go ahead... by Kid+Zero · · Score: 5, Funny

    You can have it, we're finished playing with it by now. :)

  2. Oooh, the Germans are mad at me, I'm soo scared! by nomadic · · Score: 4, Funny

    It'll probably end up like that Simpsons episode where Germans buy the Springfield nuclear plant from Mr. Burns, then when they realize it's completely broken down and profitless, they're forced to sell it back for a fraction of what they got it for...

  3. Other things he's bought recently by btellier · · Score: 5, Funny

    - BETA-Max Videotapes, Inc.
    - Disco Ball factory
    - Menudo
    - 386 12mhz, 20mb HDD, 640k RAM and a copy of Commander Keen

    1. Re:Other things he's bought recently by ZiZ · · Score: 2, Funny
      - 386 12mhz, 20mb HDD, 640k RAM and a copy of Commander Keen

      Wow, really? So did I! I got it for $4 on eBay, and since I had bought some other stuff, I got shipping for it for free! And Commander Keen is a pretty good deal at $20, too...

      But Napster? Man, I don't know what I'd do with that. If it was an intelligent, peer-to-peer, firewall- and proxy-friendly, fast, resuming, easy-to-use file-sharing system, that'd be one thing, but to today's internet users, it's almost as much of a folk tale as, say, B1FF...

      --
      This flies in the face of science.
    2. Re:Other things he's bought recently by xtheunknown · · Score: 3, Funny
      Back when I was a college student, the computer we had was so slow we could make coffee from scratch (including picking the beans) before it would boot up. It had a hand crank too. And to get to the computer center we had to walk 20 miles up hill (both directions) in the snow (even in summer). We would have killed for a 386 12mhz, 20mb HDD, 640k RAM!


      And what's wrong with Menudo?

      --

      They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
  4. Cool by NiftyNews · · Score: 2, Funny

    As long as we're selling things that no one uses anymore, I've got a stairmaster, 3 type of ab machines, and an upright piano that you might be interested in...

    --
    ------
    Today's Top Deals
  5. priceless by koekepeer · · Score: 1, Funny

    commenting to your useless post and buring karma in the process... priceless

  6. buying somthing that no one uses eh? by the_2nd_coming · · Score: 2, Funny

    well how about the US First Amendment? seeing that congress does not want to use it any longer *cough*SSSCA/DMCA*cough* :-)

    --



    I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
  7. Damn ... whoda thought by Blue+Neon+Head · · Score: 4, Funny

    You can have no business model, no immediate prospects for profit, be crippled by lawsuits, and have the little service you offer stifled by court order - yet still walk home with $15 million extra in your pocket.

    I bet Shawn Fanning has no regrets.

  8. This just in... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Will they buy up the current crop of music-trading networks next?

    In an unrelated story, Disney is seeking to buy Usenet & FTP :)

  9. Re:Corporate media mergers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    What I'd like to see is just one big corporation that owns all intellectual property in the world. Everything from music and movies to books and computer software. Basically if you can record it in any form whatsoever and distribute it, this company would own it. That way you'd just have one single company to interface with when negotiating licensing. Maybe make it easier and just have a portion of your country's tax dollars (say, 45%) automatically diverted to the corporation in case you may be pirating their property. This would be the most fair and equitable solution for resolving all intellectual property rights issues.

  10. HOW much? by Rogerborg · · Score: 4, Funny
    • Bertelsmann has already loaned Napster an estimated $80 million and has the option to acquire a large stake in the company. Buying Napster outright will reportedly cost Bertelsmann $15 million to $30 million.

    Oh yeah, .com economics. I'd almost forgotten. Actually, this looks a lot like a sort of weird poker game:

    • Bertelsman: We've already bet $80 million and still not seen a red cent back. What the hell did you do with it?
    • Napster: Haha, it'll cost you another $15 million to find out. You haven't got the balls.
    • Bertelsman: Here you go. Show your hand.
    • Napster: Ah. Fuck. [pitter patter pitter patter...]

    The one thing that I would bet on will be that the first thing Bertelsman does is to have a good hard look at Napster's accounts and figure out what the hell did happen to that $80 million. They can't have spend it all on lawyers and a crackpot crippleware scheme, surely? Surely!

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  11. Re:Napster is yesterday's technology by slipgun · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's like wanting to buy Windows 3.1.

    Or Windows XP, for that matter.

    --
    SpamNet - a spam blocker that really works