It will be interesting to see how long ZDNET lasts as a CNET brand. As a once profitable dotcom, CNET is under huge pressure from Wall Street to return to the black.

This means hundreds of heads will roll - and more radically - maybe even the dissolution of the ZDNET brand, certainly under CNET's ownership.

In Web property terms, CNET is a huge business - in corporate finance terms it looks increasingly like prey. United Business Media, the UK owner of tech publishing house CMP, could, for instance, comfortably afford to buy CNET for cash.

Earlier this year analysts smoked out interest from Terra Lycos in buying CNET - perhaps it could be interested in buying ZDNET?

We'll be tuning into CNET's next quarter announcement with close interest.

And staff at ZDNet UK were told week that 12 people were to be made redundant. Most are believed to come from GameSpot - understandable considering the state of the online games market at the moment. More redundancies are expected to follow.

ZDNet UK did not return our calls. ®

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