Confirmed: IGN Buys UGO, Hearst Gets Equity In New Venture That Will Soon Spin Out

News Corp's IGN gaming and entertainment property has just acquired Hearst's gaming and entertainment property UGO, we've confirmed with the company. And yes, the move is step one towards News Corp. spinning out IGN as its own property sometime relatively soon, we're told. This news was first reported by MediaMemo a few days ago as the deal was still being finalized. I got the chance to talk to IGN President Roy Bahat about the news and he wanted to reiterate that while there's been a lot of talk about News Corp. trying to ditch properties that are underperforming (*cough* MySpace *cough*), this is not the case here. Instead IGN is doing really well, Bahat says, and making money. They will bring in north of $10 million in profit this year, and that number is expected to be significantly higher next year, he says.�He also notes that ad revenue is up 30 percent year over year.

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