CBS Does Indeed Scoop Up Wallstrip
Wallstrip, an online video show that takes a whimsical approach to financial news, has been bought by CBS Interactive for a price in the single-digit millions, with a multi-year commitment to continue the show and add additional financially oriented web series.
Both CBS and Wallstrip confirmed the deal, which was rumored last week, had been completed on Monday, though they said the reported price of $5 million was not correct.
Wallstrip creator Howard Lindzon said CBS bought the show in part because of its “web 2.0″ attitude towards widely syndicating and distributing its video (see panel at left). “Quincy wants to be everywhere,” he said, meaning Quincy Smith, CBS’ dealmaker and the initiator of the Wallstrip purchase. The team will be part of CBSNews.com, helping out with its video projects.
Wallstrip — like any low-budget production — also takes a liberal approach to including content from anywhere, rather than leading with business development. Says Lindzon, “We don’t mind linking out to Yahoo Finance or Google Finance for that commoditized information.”
Wallstrip star Lindsay Campbell and producers Adam Elend and Jeff Marks will become full-time employees of CBS, and Lindzon, who also makes his living as an investor, will play a consulting role.
Lindzon said among multiple bidders CBS was the best opportunity because Campbell, Elend, and Marks — none of whom have financial backgrounds — will be able to participate in a wider variety of content production.
Wallstrip had raised $600,000 from a group of angel investors including venture capitalists Fred Wilson and Brad Feld, but still had much of that money in the bank, according to Lindzon. He said Campbell, Elend, and Marks all had equity stakes in the company.
The video announcement is here.
Follow us on Twitter or subscribe to the feed
Sponsor Gallery
Recent
GigaOM Network
- ARCHOS 9 UMPC Appears- Has “Light Touch” Resistive Digitizer [jkOnTheRun]
- With Commercialization of the Cloud, It’s Déjà vu [GigaOM]
- 8 Ways to Avoid Overwhelming Your Followers’ Twitter Stream [WebWorkerDaily]
- How To Save The Pirate Bay [NewTeeVee]
- Weekly App Store Picks: July 4, 2009 [TheAppleBlog]
- Solid State Lighting Boom Could Be a Boon for Chip Makers [Earth2Tech]
- Microlocal News Web Site EveryBlock Releases Source Code [OStatic]
© 2009 The GigaOM Network. Marketing consulting by ACS.
[...] a good start. CBS has indeed snapped up WallStrip, the iconic money show for single digit millions, reports Liz Gannes on NewTeeVee. Wallstrip star Lindsay Campbell, producers Adam Elend and Jeff Marks are now full-time employees [...]
GigaOM » CBS does buy WallStrip on May 21st, 2007 at 11:48 pm - Permalink
[...] will stay on, as will the producers Adam Elend and Jeff Mars, working under the CBSNews.com banner. NewTeeVee’s got more, and founder Howard Lindzon have a post up as well. No amount have been announced, although the $5m [...]
CBS have indeed bought Wallstrip | 901am on May 22nd, 2007 at 1:19 am - Permalink
[...] NewTeeVee disputes the $5 million purchase price. [...]
One-Man Band: CBS News Buys Wallstrip on May 22nd, 2007 at 4:55 am - Permalink
CBS Acquires WallStrip…
Whew, I can finally stop saying “no comment” to the rumors. CBS did indeed acquire WallStrip. Congrats to the entire team, especially Howard (you da man!). He has a post which covers how all of this went down, from idea to acquisition. …
Trader Mike on May 22nd, 2007 at 4:57 am - Permalink
[...] in WallStrip publicly confirmed Monday that the video blog has been acquired by CBS. The story was first broken by Jossip May 13 [...]
CBS/ WallStrip Deal Confirmed on May 22nd, 2007 at 6:32 am - Permalink
[...] sum (how substantial is still up for debate, since the original report of $5-million has apparently been denied) for what he helped to create with Wallstrip, the daily video-blog on Wall Street and finance [...]
CBS buys Howard Lindzon’s brain » mathewingram.com/work on May 22nd, 2007 at 8:29 am - Permalink
[...] Wallstrip selling for a few million to CBS is fabulous news. How can you possibly be complaining when somebody uses technology to accomplish their goals? [...]
Sorry Scoble, But Wallstrip’s Purchase Is A Fabulous Thing | Paul Colligan’s Profitable Podcasting on May 22nd, 2007 at 9:15 am - Permalink
[...] the deal. In a NewTeeVee article by Liz Gannes, Wallstrip’s distribution and syndicaton are reported as favorable considerations in CBS’ decision to buy the show. As Wallstrip puts it: [...]
CBS Finds Value In Niche Market Media | Verge New Media on May 22nd, 2007 at 10:27 am - Permalink
Wallstrip Cons CBS for $5 Million…
I was waiting for more on Wallstrip’s acquisition by CBS and now the deal is publicly confirmed, though not the rumored price of $5 million. However, that price is said to come from strong sources with acquisition of Wallstrip host Lindsay Campbell ke…
ProHipHop - Hip Hop Marketing on May 22nd, 2007 at 9:24 pm - Permalink
[...] that Wallstrip has been bought by CBS Interactive(more here, from NewTeeVee), its content is showing up on TheNewsRoom, where CBS is one of the featured [...]
Wallstrip joins TheNewsRoom | backward five on May 25th, 2007 at 9:58 pm - Permalink
[...] nothing changes with the acquisition except for the ownership because the deal comes with a multi-year commitment to continue the show and add additional financially oriented web series. So I can say that the Wallstrip team really made a nice and early fortune. Technorati tags: Video [...]
Wallstrip Video Podcast Bought By CBS | Podcast Fresh on May 28th, 2007 at 11:36 am - Permalink
[...] content for the “trust, wealth, and investment communities.” Sounds like Wallstrip, having shown it’s worth a few million bucks to CBS, has some new [...]
- Blog Archive » No End in Sight for Video Startup Funding on May 29th, 2007 at 3:14 pm - Permalink
[...] has been buying up its share of web properties lately, too. Liz confirmed last week that the company had bought online video show Wallstrip for a price in the single-digit [...]
GigaOM Acquisition Wednesday: Photobucket, Flektor, Last.fm « on May 30th, 2007 at 9:38 am - Permalink
[...] Bruno to Mountain View (YouTube) or London to New York City (Last.fm) is not a requirement. Even little Wallstrip isn’t shacking up at CBS HQ, staying at its own studio across [...]
GigaOM ParentCos: Just Don’t Understand & That’s A Good Thing « on July 19th, 2007 at 9:50 am - Permalink
[...] on to a new project within CBS Interactive, according to Wallstrip founder Howard Lindzon. CBS bought Wallstrip for $4 million last May. Embedded below is the show’s first episode from October [...]
Wallstrip Team Leaves Show to Start Moblog.tv for CBS « NewTeeVee on January 13th, 2008 at 6:39 pm - Permalink
[...] web show Wallstrip — who cracked the nut of online video if only because they got CBS to buy them for $4 million — are launching a new show on Friday. Moblogic is a show about popular [...]
Wallstrip Team Taps the Street for Moblogic « NewTeeVee on March 6th, 2008 at 2:33 pm - Permalink
[...] Peanut Butter Cup. Wallstrip kicked this trend off in the online sphere, and quickly came into a $4 million payday from CBS. It was more sassy than sexy but definitely used host Lindsay Campbell’s looks to its [...]
Magic Formula: Money, Sex & Online Video « NewTeeVee on April 29th, 2008 at 3:00 am - Permalink
[...] of their first smart and funny host Lindsay Campbell they built a loyal following and were then acquired by CBS Interactive for somewhere around $4 Million in May of [...]
What’s the Best Way to Make Money with Online Video? : Acquisition on November 9th, 2008 at 10:47 pm - Permalink
[...] CBS thought that a 4 million dollar aquisition was reasonable, apparently keeping that 4 million dollar show running was not. As the first big web [...]
My Top 5 Favorite Canceled Web Series « Mrmattenlow.com on February 24th, 2009 at 9:30 pm - Permalink
[...] financial video project we’ve been missing? Of Wallstrip, the funny stock market show CBS bought before CNET, Mason confirmed that the show has been discontinued (not that it wasn’t obvious; [...]
CBS Integrates Video Platforms for New MoneyWatch Site on April 6th, 2009 at 9:01 pm - Permalink