MSNBC Interactive News LLC has acquired Seattle-based Newsvine Inc., an industry-leading site that pioneered the social media and participatory news space. The acquisitionhighlights msnbc.com’s goal to engage consumers and advertisers with a family of compelling brands that deliver rich content, interactive features and the fuller spectrum of news.
Newsvine’s innovative social media offerings include contributor columns, user profiles, group commenting and conversation tracking. Newsvine, which will continue as an independent brand, offers msnbc.com’s highly engaged “news explorers” another avenue to discover multiple perspectives on news, entertainment and information. Msnbc.com will have access to a full suite of community product features that can be leveraged to complement and enhance msnbc.com’s existing offerings. The combined assets and expertise will deliver tools that offer users a richer news experience and enable advertisers to interact with consumers in new ways.
“Msnbc.com and Newsvine are a great strategic fit and we’re excited they’re a part of our brand family,” said Charlie Tillinghast, President of MSNBC Interactive News. “Coming together allows us to take advantage of the tremendous market opportunity to expand social media and community features across all of our brands. The addition of Newsvine’s technologies and people is a key element in our plans to solidify our leadership position as the news source with the widest diversity of media, sources and platforms.”
“We founded the company with the notion that big and little media can interact in a way which respects established journalism and empowers the individual at the same time,” said Mike Davidson, CEO and co-founder of Newsvine. “In msnbc.com, we see a world-class news organization who complements that vision. We’re thrilled that even more people will now be able to contribute to the site and help further the cause of participatory news and citizen journalism.”
Newsvine’s employees will continue to be located in their downtown Seattle offices. Mike Davidson will retain the title of CEO and report to Charlie Tillinghast.
Consumers can log on to www.newsvine.com to engage in Newsvine’s industry-leading social media offerings.