A smattering of stories have surfaced in recent weeks that revolve around the thorny topic of newspapers seeking higher internet revenue. The News Corp's (market cap 70b) omnipresent cartoon villain Rupert Murdock is threatening Google (market cap 171b) with removing the WSJ's articles from Google's search function. He shakes his impotent little fists of rage in the opener of this episode of NPR's Planet Money.
The gist of the NPR piece is that BING is trying to muscle in on Google's action by offering news outlets a source of revenue other than advertising. By opting out of listing on Google and only being accessible via Bing, Microsoft promises newspapers another, hopefully more consistent revenue stream.
So far, two media outlets have signed on. A.H. Belo and Media News Group. (Since these linked articles have aired, Belo's stock has achieve a major stock pump, and Media News Group has gone into Chapter 11 restructuring).
Microsoft has pockets deep enough to overpay newspapers who sign on initially, and hopefully do some damage to Google's growth. Any newspaper signing on with Bing and opting out of Google would do well to lock in a high compensation rate for as long as possible. If Google brushes off the threat and isn't damaged 2-3 year out, (my guess) Bing will quickly try and renegotiate down their payments to news organizations.
The gist of the NPR piece is that BING is trying to muscle in on Google's action by offering news outlets a source of revenue other than advertising. By opting out of listing on Google and only being accessible via Bing, Microsoft promises newspapers another, hopefully more consistent revenue stream.
So far, two media outlets have signed on. A.H. Belo and Media News Group. (Since these linked articles have aired, Belo's stock has achieve a major stock pump, and Media News Group has gone into Chapter 11 restructuring).
Microsoft has pockets deep enough to overpay newspapers who sign on initially, and hopefully do some damage to Google's growth. Any newspaper signing on with Bing and opting out of Google would do well to lock in a high compensation rate for as long as possible. If Google brushes off the threat and isn't damaged 2-3 year out, (my guess) Bing will quickly try and renegotiate down their payments to news organizations.
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