Hearst Spends Big to Enter the Low-Brow Market 35269

Okay, so OfficePirates.com didn’t work out so well for Time Warner. But that doesn’t mean Hearst can’t make a go at online properties — especially those geared at men in the office who aren’t so much interested in poorly executed The Office rip-offs as they are T&A. Which is why Hearst finally wrapped up two years of back-and-forth negotiations for an estimated $100 million buy of UGO Networks, which claims 11 million visitors interested in its online games, movie reviews, and, as Forbes puts it, “hot girls.” UGO (that’s “Under Ground Online”), meanwhile, has spent the last nine years losing investors, firing staffers, and selling off assets. It just screams “sound investment.”