The Wall Street Journal is keen to point out the Times Co.’s lousy track-record as an investor. It appears that the Times was on the brink of combining About.com, the content farm it bought for $410 million nearly six years ago, with Demand media.
Under the terms discussed at the time, Times Co. would own as much as 49% of a company that would combine Demand Media’s assets including eHow.com and Livestrong.com, with About.com, according to the person familiar with the matter. […] Ultimately, Times Co. backed out after Robinson and other senior executives decided they did not want to cede control of About.com to Demand.
Based on Demand’s recent share price in its first day of stock trading, the digital-publishing company has a market value of roughly $1.9 billion. The Times Co.’s stock-market value is $1.55 billion. Of course, it’s hard to know how Demand would have fared in combination with Times Co.
If the Times Co. were participating the IPO today, they’re About.com deal would have been a solid two-bagger at least. No matter, the gain would have come too late to hold on to the company’s shiny new headquarters of stave off the steep price paid to Carlos Slim.
