WebProNews

Yesterday afternoon, CNET's stock closed at a price of $7.95 per share.  This morning, CBS announced its plan to acquire CNET for $11.50 per share, or about $1.8 billion overall.

 CBS Acquiring CNET

CNET's CEO, Neil Ashe, is understandably pleased.  "We're thrilled to join CBS and combine our interactive media experience with CBS's world-class content," Ashe said in a statement.  He later continued, "[W]e look forward to taking our business and our brands to the next level."

CNET's websites are popular, but for financial reasons, the company was being threatened with a sort of internal uprising.  For its part, CBS owns a few nice sites (including last.fm and Wallstrip), but has long been considered weak in terms of having an online presence.  The two seem like a pretty good match.

There are some imperfections, of course.  CNET's influence may be declining, and as far as finances go, the company's 27-month slide can't be ignored.  Also, $1.8 billion is a lot of money, so CBS could have explored numerous alternatives.

At least so far, though, the people who voice their feelings with cash are behind the deal.  CBS's stock has risen 0.11 percent in pre-market trading, and CNET's shares have jumped by over 42 percent so far.