Murdoch counting on $350m internet revenue in 2006

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 30-Jun-06, 09:00

LONDON - News Corporation is expecting to make about $350m (£191m) this year from its global internet investments including MySpace.com, Rupert Murdoch has told investors in Australia.

A News Corp spokesman also said that the company's internet revenues were likely to rise to almost $500m in the 12 months ending June 2007.

Murdoch's grab on the internet came in July 2005, when he set up a new unit, Fox Interactive Media, and acquired social networking site MySpace.com for $580m, followed by IGN Entertainment in October for $650m.

The UBS research note added that MySpace is expected to be launched in Japan by mid-September in a 50:50 joint venture with Japanese internet company Softbank.

In Ireland, however, MySpace and rival Bebo are to be banned from school computers from September, according to the Irish Independent. The reason given is the sites are too time-consuming for children, the newspaper was told by Jerome Morissey, the director of government agency the National Centre for Technology in Education which operates Ireland's schools broadband system.

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