Video Game Company

Report: News Corp Eyeing Purchase of Video Game Company

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 14, 2005 - 9:03am.

London -- Australian media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is actively eyeing acquisitions in the video game sector, a move confirmed this week by the company's chief operating officer Peter Chernin at an investment conference, The Financial Times reported. "We see [video games] as a big business and would like to get into it," Chernin said, adding that News Corp has been "kicking the tires of pretty much all video games companies." Targets include Santa Monica, Calif.-based Activision, which is actively seeking a buyer. "We are struggling with the gap between companies like Electronic Arts, which come with a high price tag, and the next tier of companies. These may be too focused on one or two product lines." The news comes in the same week that News Corp agreed to buy full control of Fox Entertainment Group -- which includes the Fox Network, Fox News Channel, 20th Century Fox film studio and its stake in DirecTV -- in a stock swap valued at around $6 billion.