Microsoft Looking to Sell Slate Magazine

SeaDour writes "Wired News is reporting that Microsoft is in early discussions with five or six media companies over a potential sale of MSN's online magazine Slate. This comes mere weeks after Slate recommended Firefox over Internet Explorer."

Comments

A better bottom line

[SIGALRM]

Slate itself is breaking even at this point

After a profit of $21 million last year, and some serious past cash flow problems, I'm sure Microsoft's desire to unload the online rag has less to do w/Slate's recommending Firefox than it does with a predetermined "build-it-to-flip-it" strategy. Now Slate is somewhat solvent. It's probably smart for MS to sell some of its content assets and focus more on delivery mechanisms, and Slate just happens to be one of the more controversial business units in that category.

Re:Coincidence?

[tsaler]

What difference does it make? Remember -- Microsoft basically says that Internet Explorer doesn't exist anymore. It's a part of Windows, they say. So why does it matter if an MSN online magazine recommends Firefox as a stand-alone web browser on top of Windows, when Internet Explorer is already an integral part of Windows?

It's not as if Slate recommended that users switch to Linux or something like that. They're still using Windows, which means, whether they like it or not, they're still using Internet Explorer.

It's more likely that Microsoft would try to strong-arm the editors and the writers responsible for something like that into resigning rather than selling the entire magazine. I think they just don't care about it anymore and don't care to pay for it if someone else will.