The company has also added GameSpy Industries, an online entertainment and technology company serving game enthusiasts and game developers, and Rotten Tomatoes, a movie site.Mr Jung, a graduate of Stanford University, has remained with IGN and holds the titles of president and chief executive. Previously he founded Worldtalk Corporation, an internet security company that he took public in 1996 and that has since merged with Tumbleweed Communications.IGN's float is being handled by Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers.. It was founded by Mark Jung and Chris Anderson in 1999 and was originally called Snowball. The company floated on the stock market in 2000 but was taken private again in August 2003 by an investment firm called Great Hill Partners.Later that year IGN bought TeamXbox, a website dedicated to games played on Microsoft's Xbox. For News Corporation, which carries extensive sports coverage on its Fox television network, IGN could be a strong internet outlet for this content.IGN could also be used to create a platform for sports fantasy games, which have been highlighted by internet companies such as Yahoo! are an area of potentially lucrative areas of growth.IGN would also not discuss possible talks with News Corporation. Earlier this week it was reported that News Corporation is interested in Blinkx, a search engine for video and television clips.News Corporation would not comment on its interest in IGN, which has also, reportedly, attracted the attention of another US media giant, Viacom.But Mr Murdoch reinforced a series of high-profile statements he has made about the importance of the internet in the past few months by telling investors last week: "There is no greater priority for the company today than to meaningfully and profitably expand its internet presence and to properly position ourselves from the explosion in broadband usage that we're now starting to see".Analysts said IGN would fit the profile of the type of internet businesses Mr Murdoch is interested in.
Like MySpace , it caters to teenagers and young adults, who use the internet more heavily than older people and spend longer on it, which is attractive to advertisers.Sports and entertainment sites catering mainly to men are seen as a particular area of expansion by analysts. The content of the new integrated website ranges from news, sports business and mens health to a section called "babes", which includes interviews with models and actresses.The possible IGN deal with News Corporation would be the latest in a string of internet acquisitions by the media giant, which said as it reported full-year results on 10 August that it would spend up to $2bn on significantly expanding its presence on the web.In July News Corporation paid $580m for Intermix Media, which operates the rapidly growing social network and music site MySpace , and it has also bought Scout Media, an operator of sports sites, for an undisclosed amount. Numis, which successfully floated the Empire Online business this summer, is handling the 32Red float.. Rupert Murdoch's media empire, News Corporation, is understood to be preparing to snap up yet another internet company, IGN Entertainment, one of the web's most popular computer gaming and sports sites. There has been heightened speculation that the California-based company might be a takeover target since it announced last month that it would float on the stock market. The company, which has about 27 million monthly users, has been valued at anything from $600m to $1bn. In May IGN, which specialised in tips and news about computer games, bought the Montreal-based AskMen , which has a high audience of male visitors aged 18 to 34. 32Red is 85 per cent UK focused, with the rest of its business focused on Europe and the Far East.
Mr Ware's background at Ladbrokes, a home-grown betting company, is also likely to curry favour with investors.The company is on course to see its profits treble over the next 12 months, rising from about £2m this year to £6m in 2006, reaching £12m by 2007.Established only three years ago, it already commands a share of about 5 per cent of the UK online casino market. Barclaycard operates its customer payment services and its technology partner is Microgaming, one of the world's biggest gambling software providers."We have come to the point where we can carry on growing organically or we can try to accelerate things. We decided we wanted to get out there and float," Mr Ware said.The money raised will finance an increased marketing spend in the UK and acquisitions. Another major shareholder is David Fish QC, a long-standing family friend of Mr Ware. The rest of the business is owned by its other directors and staff.Investor roadshows for the float will begin in the next two weeks, with the issue of new shares expected early next month.Cassava Enterprises, the owner of 888 , is expected to be next on the float schedule, with its investor roadshows set to begin once 32Red has got away. Most of the large companies in the sector that have come to market attract the majority of their customers from the US, where internet gambling is illegal.PartyGaming's road to flotation was dogged by concerns about US legislation and the company had to slash its valuation to secure support.