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Disney hits soccer Net
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August 23, 1999: 10:20 a.m. ET
ESPN unit buys 60% of world's most popular soccer site
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Walt Disney Co. bought a 60 percent stake Monday in what its British partner calls the world's most popular soccer Web site and confirmed it plans further deals in the online sports sector.
Disney's ESPN.com unit, part of the Buena Vista Internet Group, bought the interest in soccernet.com, which remains minority-owned by Britain's Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT), publisher of the Daily Mail national newspaper.
Financial terms weren't disclosed.
"We needed a global media partner, and one who specialized in sports. Disney is that company," commented Paul Zwillenberg, managing director of Associated New Media, DMGT's Internet division. "We did speak to other potential partners, but Disney operated on Internet time and offered the world's largest sports Internet site."
For its part, ESPN was looking to expand overseas. "This is a chance to make a big step into the European and international arena," according to ESPN spokesman Eric Handler.
Soccernet generates monthly page views of around 23 million, and Disney plans to build on the brand using techniques developed on the successful ESPN Web site, such as premium content, advertising and content revenues, online retailing and fantasy games.
"Sports content is a very successful part of the Web," commented analyst David Card at Jupiter Communications, "and ESPN is right up there."
ESPN's Handler confirmed the company will be looking for more international sports deals on the Web.
DMGT, which is known for the heavy female readership of the Daily Mail, plans to launch further Web offerings, including a women's portal -- code-named Charlotte Street -- due to be unveiled this autumn. 
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