News Corp homes in on a fresh internet company

Rupert Murdoch's media empire, News Corporation, is understood to be preparing to snap up yet another internet company, IGN Entertainment, one of the web's most popular computer gaming and sports sites.

There has been heightened speculation that the California-based company might be a takeover target since it announced last month that it would float on the stock market. The company, which has about 27 million monthly users, has been valued at anything from $600m to $1bn.

In May IGN, which specialised in tips and news about computer games, bought the Montreal-based AskMen.com, which has a high audience of male visitors aged 18 to 34. The content of the new integrated website ranges from news, sports business and mens health to a section called "babes", which includes interviews with models and actresses.

The possible IGN deal with News Corporation would be the latest in a string of internet acquisitions by the media giant, which said as it reported full-year results on 10 August that it would spend up to $2bn on significantly expanding its presence on the web.

In July News Corporation paid $580m for Intermix Media, which operates the rapidly growing social network and music site MySpace.com, and it has also bought Scout Media, an operator of sports sites, for an undisclosed amount. Earlier this week it was reported that News Corporation is interested in Blinkx, a search engine for video and television clips.

News Corporation would not comment on its interest in IGN, which has also, reportedly, attracted the attention of another US media giant, Viacom.

But Mr Murdoch reinforced a series of high-profile statements he has made about the importance of the internet in the past few months by telling investors last week: "There is no greater priority for the company today than to meaningfully and profitably expand its internet presence and to properly position ourselves from the explosion in broadband usage that we're now starting to see".

Analysts said IGN would fit the profile of the type of internet businesses Mr Murdoch is interested in. Like MySpace.com, it caters to teenagers and young adults, who use the internet more heavily than older people and spend longer on it, which is attractive to advertisers.

Sports and entertainment sites catering mainly to men are seen as a particular area of expansion by analysts. For News Corporation, which carries extensive sports coverage on its Fox television network, IGN could be a strong internet outlet for this content.

IGN could also be used to create a platform for sports fantasy games, which have been highlighted by internet companies such as Yahoo! are an area of potentially lucrative areas of growth.

IGN would also not discuss possible talks with News Corporation. It was founded by Mark Jung and Chris Anderson in 1999 and was originally called Snowball.com. The company floated on the stock market in 2000 but was taken private again in August 2003 by an investment firm called Great Hill Partners.

Later that year IGN bought TeamXbox, a website dedicated to games played on Microsoft's Xbox. The company has also added GameSpy Industries, an online entertainment and technology company serving game enthusiasts and game developers, and Rotten Tomatoes, a movie site.

Mr Jung, a graduate of Stanford University, has remained with IGN and holds the titles of president and chief executive. Previously he founded Worldtalk Corporation, an internet security company that he took public in 1996 and that has since merged with Tumbleweed Communications.

IGN's float is being handled by Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers.

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