Disney Sells Movies.com

[topfetch]

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Movie ticketing and entertainment site Fandango Inc. said Monday it has acquired Movies.com from Walt Disney Co. for an undisclosed amount.

Los Angeles-based Fandango, which is owned by Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) (CMCSA), sells tickets for 1,300 theaters nationwide. It said it will now handle the movie ticketing functions for Movies.com, which is mainly an entertainment Web site.

Movies.com, which previously partnered with MovieTickets.com for ticketing, was owned by the Walt Disney Internet Group. Philadelphia-based cable TV system owner Comcast said the purchase price was minimal.

Fandango said it had 6.3 million monthly unique visitors to its Web site in May compared with 1.9 million for Movies.com. Both sites were launched in 2000.

Comcast, the nation's No. 1 cable operator, bought Fandango for an undisclosed price in April 2007. Months later, the company unveiled a TV and movie Web site called Fancast.com.

Fandango and Movies.com falls under Comcast Interactive Media, a division that develops and operates Internet businesses focused on entertainment, information and communication.

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[tonyfloyd]

Comcast said the purchase price was minimal.

wonder what they mean by minimal....

 

[clasione]

I have used that site to get tickets after someone sent me a gift certificate.... What a horrible domain name Fandango was.... This was exactly the type of move they needed to make... Now they will become a serious rival for other online movie ticket venues.

 

[topfetch]

Yes Fandango obviously just hit the jackpot. I too wonder what "minimal" means. Just the name without the 1.9 Million uniques per month should not be mentioned in the same breath as "minimal".

 

[HuntingMoon]

this makes the argument for generic name valuations a touch stronger imho. nice pickup for comcast. i wonder why disney would sell movies.com though? it seems like good feeder traffic.

 

[DomainsInc]

Fandango own quite a few domain names. I wonder what other premiums they might own. Hopefully the price of this domain leaks out sooner or later. I'd be very curious to kno what it sold for.

 

[N.Y]

Great !!

 

[clemzonguy]

It would have to be disclosed in some type of annual report i'd imagine.
Maybe there are some available conference calls referencing the sale.

 

[SonnyBurnett]

Price of the deal?
Movies.com is a super domain...

 

[DDC_Cyn]

I too am surprised that Disney let that go. Not like they're getting out of the movie biz - fabulous domain name.

As for Fandango, yeah, it doesn't say what it is, but it's a good brand name and I'd say they haven't done too bad for themselves.

 

[NostraDomainus]

wonder what they mean by minimal....

What I first thought when I read that line was, yes, minimal purchase price, but how much of a percentage of booking revenues as well? or shares in the venture?

Nice move by Fandango thou, as the movies.com brand gives them a more 'sticky' and natural name and, imo, a more global scope for the future of their business.

Party-on Wayne!

 

[ksinclair]

With almost 2,000,000 monthly traffic, surely Disney got a lot for it.
If they state a low cash price it means they are making up for it
in other aspects of their relationship; maybe they did it this way
for tax reasons.

 

[Alan Glennon]

...closed...

 

[DNP]

There are more then enough employees who know about the selling price, I think it will be disclosed sooner or later...

 

[clemzonguy]

As I Disney stockholder, I am pretty mad about this.

Cramer says "sell sell sell"

Interesting that Traffic was just held at Disney.
We also don't know if there were any side deals between the two.