As former president Barry Briggs agitates for change at CNET Networks
Inc., the languishing Internet media company finally began to respond. For
starters, it sold its photo-sharing service Webshots to American Greetings
Corp. for $45 million — $25 million less than what it paid in 2004.
Additionally, CNET hired Stephen Colvin, former CEO of Maxim publisher Dennis
Publishing Ltd., as executive vice president dedicated to overseeing CNET's
entertainment and lifestyle brands, which includes GameSpot, TV.com, MP3.com,
FilmSpot, CHOW and UrbanBaby. As the Internet has grown beyond the domain of
techies, the re-emphasis on the entertainment brands rather than CNET's
original tech content is a step in the right direction. It also makes CNET a
more attractive acquisition candidate for big media especially News Corp., NBC
Universal Inc. and Viacom Inc. — Matthew Wurtzel
See earnings story from paidContent
See CNET internal memo about restructuring via Tech Crunch
See Webshots sale story from BloggingStocks
See press release announcing Colvin's hiring
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