AOL JV/Spin-off Plans; Memo To BusinessWeek.com

BusinessWeek.com has a longish story about AOL’s search for partners to expand its kids portal. Pretty decent in general but unfortunately marred by the claim that the site “has learned” — code words for a scoop. Actually, we broke that story on Oct. 27 — and I happen to know AOL received inquiries within hours of the post. BW does suggest that other TW units could be a good fit — Kids WB, for instance — but that may not accomplish what AOL is looking for. Think Hasbro or the like.
— The BW article also focuses on ethnic and affinity efforts: “Advertiser interest is only part of why AOL and other portals, such as Yahoo, are concentrating on attracting these minority groups. African American and Hispanic audiences represent growth opportunities for portals because online penetration has not reached the levels it has with other ethnic groups such as whites and Asian Americans.”

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