Well, not really a surprise, but RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser said at a conference today that mulling acquisitions from the money it got from the settlement with Microsoft. “Our two growth businesses have been music and games so if you could do acquisitions that accelerate that I wouldn’t rule it out,” said Glaser.
With this $460 million cash bounty from MSFT, RealNetworks now has about $820 million in cash on its balance sheet. “I’d rather do four acquisitions that work than do eight, six of which work,” he said. “We’d probably look at more opportunities now but I couldn’t predict that the velocity will increase.”
One thought from me: how about Audible? Pros: It would fit very well within Rhapsody; does away with a lot of competitive fears; puts Real squarely in the podcasting/digital audio revolution; kickstarts their content acquisition efforts; helps in wireless space since Audible fits right in. Cons: Expensive for the money…would be in the $500 million range. For Audible, it would probably like to wait out and see how the podcasting thing shakes out before it decides to sell…the company stands to benefit big time if it plays the chips right. Also, the company really does not want to sell right now…
And oh, Audible does have an exclusive relationship with Apple for iTunes until 2007.
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