NEW YORK An investor group involving Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is in final talks to take a controlling stake in News Corp's social network site Myspace, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Kotick's involvement is personal and nothing to do with Activision at this stage, the source said.
Under the terms of the discussions, News Corp would retain an equity stake, possibly of about 20 percent, but that has yet to be confirmed.
There remain others in the race, according to the source, but the Kotick group is now the favored bidder -- ahead of others including Myspace founder Chris De Wolfe, music video site Vevo, and current Myspace CEO Mike Jones in partnership with private equity backers.
News Corp, which paid $580 million for Myspace in 2005, had hoped to do a deal valuing Myspace at about $100 million, but sources said it was unlikely to achieve that target.
News of Kotick's involvement was first reported by AllThingsDigital.
(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Gary Hill)
JAKARTA Indonesia's leading state-controlled telecoms operator may be forced to share a key part of its network with smaller rivals, government officials told Reuters, under a landmark proposal to liberalize a $14 billion telecoms sector and speed up the roll-out of broadband coverage over the next three years.
NEW YORK Twitter Inc denied on Thursday rumors that the social media messaging service will be shutting down in 2017, denouncing the claim as groundless.
BEIJING Cheng Wei, 34, was once assistant to the head of a foot massage firm. Last week, his company Didi Chuxing bagged Uber's China business in a deal valuing his ride-hailing start-up at $35 billion - a second success in as many years in a grueling battle with a rival.