Comments on: Rupert Murdoch Admits He Can’t Compete With Google

By: Biofuels Brazil » Newspapers Try to Reimpose Scarcity on News With Ongo

Biofuels Brazil » Newspapers Try to Reimpose Scarcity on News With Ongo — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:21:49 +0000

[...] working on partnerships with other chains as well to make their content part of the paid service. The project was killed in October, just a few weeks before it was supposed to launch, but not before it had spent a reported $30 million and hired more than 100 staffers. It’s not [...]

By: Rupert Murdoch — Still at War With the Internet: Tech News «

Rupert Murdoch — Still at War With the Internet: Tech News « — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 18:31:34 +0000

[...] example, the media mogul spent over a year and more than $30 million trying to build a competitor before finally killing it. He is also said to be close to putting a bullet in Myspace, which has been both losing traffic and [...]

By: Jean

Jean — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 15:06:17 +0000

At his age, I think it’s commun sense that he can’t compete with Google. The conclusion can be seen by anyone, he doesn’t have to admit it.

By: billbennettnz

billbennettnz — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 19:56:59 +0000

@compareaholic, The smart way to do these projects is to throw a modest sum at a bunch of hungry young types in a skunk-works operatation. I’d say a couple of million would have been ample.

By: compareaholic

compareaholic — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 19:02:40 +0000

@Bill, it does seem considerably high to me as well. Google News was started as one of the 20% projects so it’s difficult to put an exact price on what it cost to get started, however it’s simply an aggregator so not a huge amount of man power once the initial set up is complete.

A subscription model to news corp’s products would probably have a decent market, although Murdoch will need to look at completing the project at a far cheaper cost if he wants to make it worthwhile.

By: Fante

Fante — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:08:13 +0000

Rupert Murdoch is a wrinkled old turd, a dinosaur like the rest of the conservative movement. His son, James, never advanced from being a sperm.

The only thing left is for the Fox Noise groupies to bitch that the truth about Murdoch and his shabby “Internets” operation going down somehow isn’t real.

Tools

By: Frymaster

Frymaster — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 14:29:24 +0000

Well, not a surprising outcome, though the particulars are impressive. I could not launch a website for half as much!

Apologists can say what they will. I’ll stick to my long-held belief that Rupert is dead last on the list of media moguls that “get” the web. It’s a hell of a feat to be dumber than TimeWarner, but Rupert does it with ease. His instincts are exactly backwards, like an Australian George Costanza.

So, The New York Times, how’s the paywall project coming along. “Sometime next year” starts in about 10 weeks…

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 05:48:53 +0000

I suppose Google doesn’t invest in any money-losing operations in it’s market development efforts? This piece just smacks of disdain for Murdoch and Fox News. btw, did you see the Bloomberg piece on Google tax avoidance schemes this AM? http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-21/google-2-4-rate-shows-how-60-billion-u-s-revenue-lost-to-tax-loopholes.html

By: Bill Bennett

Bill Bennett — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 04:55:50 +0000

“About $30 million in funding, and had a staff of more than 100.”

I’m curious. Can anyone reading this estimate how much money and how many people Google used to get Google News started?

The amount seems too high to me.

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 04:04:13 +0000

Thanks, Tim — obviously I’m extrapolating, but the Murdoch organization has made it clear on a number of occasions that they saw this project as competition for Google, and according to multiple sources it has been shut down completely.