IGN Confirms UGO Acquisition

News Corp. subsidiary and gaming and entertainment company IGN Entertainment confirmed on Thursday that it is purchasing Hearst Corporation's UGO Entertainment, parent to UGO.com and 1UP.com. The confirmation of the buy comes after rumors just days ago that IGN would buy UGO, as News Corp. reportedly prepares to bulk up its games and entertainment website business to spin it off as a separate entity. Under the terms of the agreement, Hearst will become an IGN shareholder and an "active participant in the development of the business." The joint announcement from the two parties said IGN and UGO can reach 70 million monthly visitors combined, primarily targeted at the 18-34 male demographic. IGN reaches 40 million, according to the announcement, with UGO sites adding 30 million more. More than just top-ranking video game consumer website IGN.com, IGN Entertainment includes digital distribution brand Direct2Drive, as well as GameSpy, FilePlanet, TeamXbox and AskMen. IGN's traffic figures also include traffic from IGN retail partner GameStop.com. IGN president Roy Bahat said in a statement, "This instantly catapults us to another level and positions us to serve and entertain tens of millions more fans. We look forward to providing an even richer service for users and advertisers. We are now actively considering a range of options to maximize IGN's long-term value." Bahat told TechCrunch that IGN Entertainment plans on bringing in $10 million in profit this year, and he's expecting that amount to be substantially higher next year, as ad revenue climbed 30 percent year-on-year.