Tribal rumors
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You may have seen rumors flying about NBC supposedly buying (or maybe not buying) Tribe, the San Francisco social networking company. We’ve decided not to report anything until there is really something there. Remember, in the gossip-prone valley, everyone talks with everyone, and it hits the grapevine eventually. However, the signing of a “letter of intent,” so a company can do due diligence on another company, doesn’t mean a deal really gets brokered.
We too had heard things about Tribe, even before the latest gossip arose. Two of Tribe’s existing investors, Washington Post and Knight Ridder, have had difficulty figuring out how to integrate the site into their operations. With Knight Ridder’s sale to McClatchy, the ownership stake in Tribe gets reviewed — which also contributes to the discussion about what to do with Tribe.
In March, NBC spent about $600 million to buy women’s destination site iVillage.com. NBC’s other Internet properties include MSNBC.com, and Telemundo.com.
Stay tuned.
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About the Author, Matt Marshall
Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.
