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.
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.
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.