Microsoft and NBC Complete Their Divorce

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The last vestige of the long-running news partnership between Comcast‘s (NASDAQ:CMCSA) NBC and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has disappeared.

The website formerly known as MSNBC.com is now NBCNews.com, the Associated Press notes.

Microsoft teamed with NBC back in 1996 to create a news operation that crossed cable TV news coverage with a strong Internet presence. At the time, it was a pioneering move that built on the Internet’s rising profile as a news source for consumers.

In 2005, Microsoft sold its interest in the cable channel, but kept its 50% stake in MSNBC.com.

Rumors have been floating for months that NBC wanted full control of the website and that Redmond was looking to create its own news portal.

No financial terms have been revealed, but NBC now owns the website it its entirety and wasted no time in dropping MS from the name.

The end of the relationship between NBC’s news division and the software giant may have been accelerated by NBC’s decision to position itself as a liberal alternative to News Corp.’s (NASDAQ:NWSA) Fox News. Under its partnership agreement, Microsoft was obligated to place NBC content on its own news portal, MSN.com.

Microsoft officials complained that using MSNBC content exclusively prevented MSN from exploring other perspectives on the news. With its MSNBC partnership now behind it, Microsoft is preparing to launch its own news unit for MSN this fall.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2012/07/microsoft-and-nbc-complete-their-divorce/.

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