Comcast, the parent company of NBC, has bought out Microsoft's 50 per cent stake in MSNBC.com for about $300 million to assume full control of the news website, it was reported today.

The New York Times citied people with knowledge of the deal.

MSNBC.com has been renamed NBCNews.com and users were automatically redirected to the site.

NBC and Microsoft joined forces in 1996 to create a cable news channel and online news operation that melded broadcasting with then-emerging internet technology.

The news of a possible buyout was first reported in May.

"MSNBC TV will launch a new digital home in 2013, as an extension of the MSNBC TV on-air brand," the editor-in-chief of MSNBC.com wrote in a letter posted on MSNBC website.

Comcast and Microsoft could not be immediately reached for comment outside regular US business hours.

Reuters