Diller to bid for Ebay? Well, I assume it's too late but an article I was just reading made it sound interesting. The article is actually old (2/15) from MultiChannel News (I occasionally read this for broadband insight). [Article and excerpt below]
Anyway, I know Diller desperately would love to buy Ebay - it would fit in perfectly with HSN and more - but he's several months late to the game in his quest to be almighty media queen. I wonder if he could afford it. Anyway, the idea is scary, so let's hope it doesn't happen -
Full article below but here's the relevant excerpt:
"Although Diller stated last week that this transaction was pretty much it, and that he had no interest in buying NBC or any other
company, I wouldn't be surprised to see him make a run at eBay Inc. If he doesn't, somebody else will, and he really is the most
logical candidate, considering his current holdings."
"Diller's Fastball"
By MARIANNE PASKOWSKI February 15, 1999
For years, folks have been wondering if Barry Diller, once the wunderkind of Hollywood, had truly lost his fastball, as he seemingly
bounced from one aimless pipe dream to another.
But apparently, Diller has been doing his homework and honing his Internet savvy, just like others in the entertainment world who
don't want to become the next officially declared dinosaur in the headlines.
Indeed, last week, Diller found himself in the center of the fledgling, but most promising, world of e-commerce, marrying a traditional
entertainment network with an ultrahot Internet commodity.
He grabbed headlines and turned a lot of heads with the announcement of the creation of USA/Lycos -- a mating that truly has the
potential to marry USA's Home Shopping Network, Diller's majority-controlled stake in Ticketmaster and Lycos, the fourth largest
Internet portal.
When the deal is completed, USA will wind up with about a 61 percent stake in Lycos, valued by industry sources at some $18
billion to $20 billion.
In his announcement, Diller said he believed that he needed a national portal if his current company was going to continue to grow.
And just think of what Lycos adds to his portfolio.
First of all, he learned a lot during his short tenure at QVC about the cable home shopping business -- even if it wasn't how to win
friends and influence people.
But while he didn't last long at QVC, he soon managed to grab up HSN and a large stake in Ticketmaster, thus immersing himself in
the growing world of at-home transactional commerce.
This deal has the makings of a winner, especially when you look at how quickly e-commerce has grown this year alone.
For example, shopping on the Internet grew at a logarithmic rate just from 1997's holiday season to last year's.
I've bought so many books now from Amazon.com that I actually got a letter and Christmas mug from the company's president,
thanking me for my business. That's a heck of a lot more than I ever got from my cable company for all of those checks that I've
written over the past 15 years.
Obviously, I'm not the only one shopping until I drop online. And Diller is smart enough to see the potential of marrying his existing
assets with Lycos -- a deal that will allow him to cross-promote USA and, more important, HSN and Ticketmaster to the huge
audience that Lycos provides.
This is a truly new world. Diller already had the subscriber fees and ad revenues, just like any other cable programmer does. Now, in
addition to the transactional revenue from HSN on cable, that merchandise will be available on the Web, and that's where the money
is increasingly going to be spent.
Although Diller stated last week that this transaction was pretty much it, and that he had no interest in buying NBC or any other
company, I wouldn't be surprised to see him make a run at eBay Inc. If he doesn't, somebody else will, and he really is the most
logical candidate, considering his current holdings.
After all, eBay.com is one of the quickest-growing -- if not the quickest -- online auction sites. It boasts 600 million page views and
173 million bids per month, all in its short time in existence.
Many can attest to the rush of slamming a bid in at the last minute, with the clock ticking, and winning an auction. Users of eBay
regularly joke on the bulletin boards: "Does anyone know if Betty Ford has a 12-step program for this new addiction?"
Clearly, the message in the new-media world is content, just like it has been in television and cable since the get-go.
And now that cable operators have entered this new arena, offering high-speed cable modems to their subscribers, they are going to
find that speed is not enough. Like the core cable business that they understand, they are soon going to learn that content is king
on the Internet.
And the @Homes and Road Runners of this world are going to have to offer much more compelling content in this world of
demanding users. They may like the speed of cable modems, but they want more.
But remember: What are they racing to find? Just ask Diller, who just made one very smart move.
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- Netconductor.com |
