Yahoo to buy rivals.com?

[ChicosBailBonds]

Execs for both Rivals.com and Yahoo have declined comment on a report from paidcontent.org that the Internet portal would buy Tennessee-based Rivals.com for as much as $100M. Yahoo Sports VP & GM Jimmy Pitaro called the report “rumor and speculation,” and declined to comment further. Rivals.com COO Bobby Burton also declined comment. Industry sources close to Rivals.com pointed to a deal not being done, but talks are at a serious stage. The apparent discussions, however, are far from the first time Rivals.com, a popular supplier of college sports and recruiting news, has been the object of interest by a larger media operation. Rivals.com has been eyed by both Yahoo and AOL over the past several years. But techcrunch.com this morning reported that a derailment to those talks stemmed from a ‘98 securities violation by Rivals.com CEO Shannon Terry. Terry was forced by the SEC to make restitution of $828,000 for violations of federal anti-touting and antifraud provisions while working as an analyst for SGA Goldstar Research in Nashville. Terry declined to respond to numerous messages from THE DAILY and SportsBusiness Journal. The Yahoo-Rivals.com deal, if consummated at that $100M figure, would far exceed the $60M Fox Interactive Media paid in ‘05 for Scout Media.

[ChicosBailBonds]

ATTORNEY SAYS RIVALS.COM CEO CONSIDERING LEGAL ACTION AGAINST BLOG
By Eric Fisher, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

An Atlanta-based lawyer for Rivals.com and company CEO Shannon Terry today criticized a techcrunch.com report that said Terry was “involved in a classic ‘pump and dump [stock] scheme’ ” in the late '90s. Terry is considering legal action against the blog. “We feel the article is incredibly misleading and defamatory against Shannon,” said Larry Polk, a partner for Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan. “There was no pump-and-dump finding against Shannon. The article also alleges Shannon was a principal in [SGA Goldstar Research], which he was not.” Terry is seeking a correction to the item before deciding whether to pursue a lawsuit.

Polk represented Terry during the SEC inquiry in which Terry was forced by a U.S. District Court to disgorge more than $828,000 in stock profits as a result of violating securities anti-touting and antifraud provisions. Polk is not involved in the Rivals.com acquisition talks with Yahoo, described by industry sources as intensive.

[mu_hilltopper]

Here come the lawyers!

"Shannon Terry is pissed off"

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/13/shannon-terry-is-pissed-off-threatens-lawsuit-against-techcrunch/

Cue the violins.