The recent sale of Microsoft’s shares in MSNBC indicated a price of $12 per unique reader. This is consistent with the value given to Huffington Post when they sold (at slightly more – $12.60 per unique reader).

The Daily explores:

What’s the average online news junkie worth to a media empire? About $12.

That is, if Comcast’s recent price for Microsoft’s 50 percent stake of MSNBC.com is any measure. The cable company will pay a reported $300 million to buy the software giant out of the joint venture, which draws about 50 million monthly active users.

Comcast seems confident that it can either attract more online traffic or use its undiluted ownership to leverage advertising revenue through packages that include both online and TV spots. In addition to MSNBC.com, the unit included Today.com, NightlyNews.com and Newsvine.com.

At the end of March, Comcast valued the joint venture at $350 million. MSNBC.com will now be called NBCNews.com.

“Through this new structure, we’ll grow by engaging users with our content directly, and on every platform,” Vivian Schiller, chief digital officer of NBC News, said. “This is a different model from the rest, and given where the future of online news is trending, we see it as a model with staying power.”

Meanwhile, Microsoft said the deal gives it the freedom to build its own news-gathering operation, as Yahoo and AOL have done. Under the terms of the deal, the software firm will have to continue to highlight top stories from its former partner for about two years.

The valuation is right in line with what AOL paid early last year to buy the Huffington Post Web empire. At the time, HuffPo had about 25 million monthly users, so AOL’s $315 million purchase broke down to $12.60 per reader.

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