AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

New Media Icon Grapples With Newer Media Rivals - The Wall Street Journal

CNET Networks Inc. has achieved many Internet companies’ dreams: more monthly users in the U.S. than Web phenomenon Facebook Inc. and about $400 million in revenue annually.

But the San Francisco company finds itself the target of hedge-fund and venture-capital investors looking to take control of its board. Its shares have fallen 45% in the past two years to $8.34 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

The investor battle raging over the iconic Internet media company offers an object lesson in how high-tech Web firms that miss a beat can be vulnerable to succeeding waves of Internet technology. With the Web in its second decade as a popular consumer medium, some well-known companies that arose in its first decade, like CNET and Yahoo Inc., now face heightened competition.

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