Contrary to earlier reports, Walt Disney Co., not Sony is buying Club Penguin, a kid-focused virtual community based in Kelowna, BC in Canada. Club Penguin, which will be called Disney’s Club Penguin, will retain its URL (www.clubpenguin.com) and will remain based in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. The company’s three founders, Lane Merrifield, Dave Krysko and Lance Priebe, will join Disney and remain the senior management team of the unit. Disney has been very aggressive in embracing recent trends including virtual worlds and social networks.
Disney, not Sony buys Club Penguin —
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10 comments so far
3:53 PM PT
Om - at one point you said that social networking for kids seemed like a strange idea.
What are you thinking now?
7:32 PM PT
Social networking for kids…Not a bad idea. Good acquisition for Disney.
6:17 AM PT
kids seem to be the ideal social networking candidates.
loads of time & a loose grip on reality.
could be a good buy.
11:49 AM PT
Anybody knows the price? Is this public information.
4:51 AM PT
That website for me don’t value more than 10 millions USD.
http://www.unleashedstream.com
8:39 AM PT
Amazing success story!
Anybody know how much it’d cost roughly to develop a browser-based game environment like CP?…. (am I way off base or does it seem like it’d be relatively inexpensive, like a couple hundred grand?)
Curious whether they’ll see an onslaught on new competitors now.
5:24 AM PT
[...] the Expo is an awkward convergence of traditional media corporations like Disney (new owner of Club Penguin), MTV/Nickelodeon (announcing eight virtual worlds), and Turner (which recently bought partnered [...]
12:01 PM PT
[...] is a social network/virtual world surrounding a penguins theme. Press Release | TechCrunch | GigaOm| Mashable | [...]
2:26 PM PT
[...] James Au, Monday, March 10, 2008 at 2:26 PM PT Comments (0) Fueled by the purchase of Club Penguin and other success stories, the market for virtual worlds designed for children/teens keeps booming. [...]
3:21 PM PT
[...] an increasingly important component of the company’s online strategy. Building on Disney’s acquisition of the virtual world Club Penguin and other projects, the company is expanding its efforts with virtual worlds and online communities [...]
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