It looks like CBS is in a spending mood. Over the last week or so, first they recently bought Wallstrip, and now it is being reported that they are buying up Last.fm. Two big social media grabs by the tiffany network.

CBS Corp. is buying a popular social-networking website organized around musical tastes for $280 million, combining a traditional broadcast giant with an early leader in online radio.

CBS is expected to announce today that it has acquired London-based Last.fm, which claims more than 15 million monthly users, including more than 4 million in the U.S.

The initial payout is well beneath that paid by rivals in the last two years for video-sharing site YouTube Inc., now owned by Google Inc., and for MySpace, the top social destination on the Web, bought by News Corp. The final price for closely held Last.fm could rise substantially if performance targets are met.

I think the major media players have finally realized what was created out here online. They see it now as a good business model, and are going full force. I say it’s about time, but I do wonder if much money will be dropped into off line businesses this year? I think as Allen keeps saying, this is the year of the buy out and merger.

Technically Speaking, I can’t wait for 2008 to see when the smoke clears.