AllThingsD May Leave News Corp: Report
Possible buyers are hovering around the popular tech news site, and founders Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg are talking with News Corp about the future of the partnership, Reuters reports, citing “sources familiar with the situation.” Things are in flux because AllThingsD‘s contract with News Corp expires this year — and Rupert Murdoch’s company is in the process of spinning off its publishing operations. Swisher and Mossberg must provide a new business plan to the company next week, the news service says. It describes the relationship between the two sides as “amicable but stressed.” A separation could become complicated unless both agree; News Corp owns the name “AllThingsD,” but it needs Swisher and Mossberg’s approval to sell the operation. Conde Nast and Hearst apparently have expressed an interest in buying the site. But there’s also speculation that Guggenheim Digital Media CEO Ross Levinsohn — who oversees The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, and Adweek — might want in. When he took the job last month, financial services firm Guggenheim Partners said it “anticipates allocating significant capital to acquire and invest in new media companies and properties that will meaningfully expand its current portfolio.”
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