“Comcast Corp, the parent company of NBC, has bought out Microsoft Corp’s 50 percent stake in MSNBC.com for a reported $300 million to assume full control of the news website,” Reuters reports. “The deal ends 16 years of a 50-50 joint venture between Microsoft and NBCUniversal, which is now majority-owned by Comcast Corp, NBC said. ‘Today we’re taking on a new name – NBCNews.com. While our name is changing, our commitment is not,’ Jennifer Sizemore, editor-in-chief of NBCNews.com, said in a letter posted on the company’s website. ‘The ties are deep, and untangling them will take at least two years,’ the network said.”
Reuters reports, “NBC and Microsoft joined forces in 1996 to create a cable news channel and online news operation that melded broadcasting with then-emerging internet technology. At that time, Microsoft invested $220 million for its 50 percent stake in NBC. In 2005, the companies terminated their partnership operating the MSNBC cable channel and NBC was acquired by Comcast four years later.”
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