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:A better bottom line

[MesiahTaz]

Let's not forget that Slate does not really fit their business model. They're only into something if they can achieve total dominance.

Re:A better bottom line

[OnTheMoney]

Microsoft has also recently announced that they are returning some of their cash to stockholders because they don't have any good places to invest it anymore.

My suspicion is that a group at MS has been analyzing their business units for future growth as part of that cash dividend decision and one of the things they came up with was that while Slate doesn't have much growth potential (but is profitable enough to be turned into cash), after dropping it they can do more in other media stuff to help the growth of MSN.

--
Healthy Info

Cool, I'll buy it...

[JessLeah]

...err .... Microsoft does take Monopoly money, right?

Not likely a punishment

[usefool]

This comes mere weeks after Slate recommended Firefox over Internet Explorer.

I don't think the above is part of the reasons for such sales, as stated on the article, the sales allows MS to "create a partnership with another media company, which could potentially help increase advertising revenue on the MSN site."

One step backward, two steps forward.

Re:Not likely a punishment

[Zeinfeld]

In months past there have been some rumors of a MS - Disney partnership. After all Mickey Mouse software would fit well with Disney ;)

Great so we have Michael Eisener telling slate not to publish anything too critical of Bush. Incidentally, is Eisener going to reimburse Disney shareholders the $30 million or so that they lost out on due to his refusal to distribute Farenheight 9-11?

The rumors going arround were that Microsoft would BUY Disney, sack Eisner, revamp ABC and go into content in a big way. It was certainly being considered, but it was probably a bad idea for the same reason it would be a bad idea for Microsoft to build computers or make CPUs. You have to define boundaries to the markets you will compete in, you can't compete with your channel unless you are likely to succeed in replacing it.

I suspect that we will see MSNBC be sold as well. It has been doing pretty baddly in the ratings and is not likely to improve as long as GE continue to try to make it Fox News Lite. Its pretty amazing that the chuckleheads can't get a clue and work out that maybe the reason that people have been turning off from CNN is because the 'news' they report is utterly vapid trivia. There has actually been remarkably little switching to Fox News, the audience for 24 hour right wing propaganda was an entirely new one.

Basically CNN discovered what they thought was the killer formula during the OJ Simpson trial and have been desperately trying to apply it ever since. They are geared up to provide saturation coverage of stories that have as little importance as possible. MSNBC copied this formula and found it does not work and then tried to copy the right wing propaganda formula half the time. If they wanted to make that a commercial success they should have made it s loony left wing propaganda station, hired Moore and Franken.

Slate Magazine?

[PetoskeyGuy]

Isn't that where Fred Flintstone got his news?

Re:Post Hoc Propter, Much?

[gmajor]

The story's commentary is some of the biggest bullshit I've read on Slashdot in a while. Any attempt to cast Microsoft in a negative shadow, even through faulty arguments, is praised on the front page.

IIRC, MSNBC also reccommended Firefox over IE.

Although it is still a newsworty story, trying to link the sale of Slate with Firefox is just plain stupid, and takes away from the real content.

Somehow I doubt this is becuase of the FireFox rec

[Virtual PC Guy]

Hmm... Let's see - I own an online magazine. Presumably I (the comapny) actually get to have a say in what gets published or not, and who gets hired or not.

Now - someone wants to publish an article recommending a competitive product - do I:

1) Stop them from publishing the article (I can do that - remember)

2) Let them publish the article so as to maintain a fair balance in the press

So let's say I select option two - am I then going to 'vinidictively' sell them off (so that they can continue doing the same thing for a different employer)?

That does not make sense.

If I wanted to be vindictive - I would keep the magazine, stop them from publishing the article, and fire the guy who wrote it. If - however - I wanted to make a profit I would publish the article (and similar ones) so as to grow respect in my reader base - and sell it off once it had a big enough base to be profitable.

Face it guys - buisness is about making money - not being vindictive (though those two do tend to overlap at times)

Put it together

[Fished]

1. Microsoft pays $35billion or so to shareholders in a one-time dividend.
2. Microsoft unloads Slate
3. Microsoft increases future dividends.
4. ???
5. Profit! (sorry, always wanted to do that.

This doesn't mean that MS is annoyed with Slate, it means they are changing their business strategy. I would hazard to guess that Microsoft has decided that, rather than becoming an evil empire that owns a small country and runs its own Media etc., they will go back to being just a software company.

I would look for them to off-load other products not related to their core competencies in the near future, and I expect they will divest themselves from many of the sidelines they've gotten into. The question in my mind is: what happens to MSN as a whole? Is Microsoft giving up on being a content company altogether? What about their promised search engine? The Xbox?

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.

Hah, of course...Steel resolve.

[Anonymous Coward]

" If my employees were bashing my products publicly, I think I'd dump them too. Who wouldn't?"

Your products, or your employees?

Can anyone read?

[peeon]

MS is not unloading on Slate. They just trying to get into a partnership with another company to make more money.

MS benefits from the Firefox article...

[tyroneking]

... on Slate because that is the exact sort of thing that gives Slate a supposed 'reputation' for journalism. In fact, it's a pretty cheap trick to recommend something that so many others have recommended already (and is so obviously a better product), when MS's own product (IE) attracted so much trouble for MS in the first place and doesn't make a profit for MS anyway.

Now if they had gone down the road of web-based applications then maybe this would have been a different story - but right now IE is a suitable sacrificial lamb that will boost Slate's reputation just before a potential sale/partnership.

In fact, Slate appears to be part of trend at MS, what with blogs and all, to promote the idea that MS goes in for a little self-criticism... wonder why?

Maybe MS feels that self-attack is the best form of defence against their only true threat - worldwide Governments - and appearing to be self-governing is a common method used by large industries to avoid government-regulation.

Not that I'm suggesting that MS is really trying to be so underhand - but I guess they can't help but appear to be so.