Dow Jones agreed Sunday to acquire the financial news Web site known as CBS.MarketWatch.com and its corporate parent, MarketWatch Inc, for $520 million, CBS.MarketWatch.com reported.
The deal potentially extends The Wall Street Journals editorial influence into a news market targeting average consumers and opens a pipeline to Internet-based advertising revenue . The Wall Street Journal is one of the few purely subscription-driven national publications.
Reuters had reportedly invested at least two years in developing a proprietary Web-based news service.
The New York Times and Yahoo! reportedly lost out on the lengthy bidding process for MarketWatch, which Dow Jones cinched Sunday for $18 per share. Shares of Marketwatch grew more than twofold since on rumors of a pending sale that began to surge in August.
Founded in 1997 MarketWatch operates a pair of financial Web sites CBS.MarketWatch.com and BigCharts.com and produces financial reports for both CBS television and the MarketWatch Radio Network.
