News Corp. (NWSA) has sold its Fox Mobile Group unit to Jesta Group for an undisclosed sum. The sale marks a yearlong exit from many of News Corp’s digital media businesses and MySpace could be next.
The business will be renamed Jesta Mobile Holdings with its co-headquarters remaining in Berlin and Beverly Hills, Calif. It’s unclear what the company’s primary value will be unless Fox content is still available to Jesta going forward.
The sale comes less than a month after layoffs were handed down and almost four months after News Corp. COO Chase Carey first went public with the company’s plan to find an exit.
News Corp. first got into the mobile space in 2006 with a 51% purchase of Jamba, a Berlin-based ringtone outfit. Two years later, it bought the remaining interest in the company from VeriSign Inc. to form Fox Mobile Group.
The company’s divestment does not portend an abandonment of the mobile space entirely on News Corp.’s part. In all likelihood, News Corp. is simply looking for a fresh start.
News Corp. finds exit from Fox Mobile Group
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