RSSEvidence that Digg may be preparing for a buyout
By Jacqueline Emigh | Published December 18, 2007, 5:07 PM
In the latest of a long string of rumors surrounding Digg, some financial publications and bloggers are speculating that the online community is placing itself on the shopping block.
This morning, financial publications and bloggers including VentureBeat were speculating that the online community is placing itself on the shopping block. It has apparently hired Allen & Co., an investment bank specializing in media deals, to cook up an offer.
The asking price could be around $300 million, it was reported. Microsoft and Barry Diller's IAC/InterActive Corp. are now among the rumored possible suitors.
As the online buzz continued, Valleywag added fuel to the flame by mentioning that Digg CEO Jay Adelson got invited this year to Allen & Co.'s annual shindig in Sun Valley, and that "the conjecture about a Digg sale is likely explained by Allen bankers' discreet inquiries" about selling Digg at an estimated price tag of $300 million.
According to Valleywag, IAC had previously expressed an interest in acquiring Digg, but then later backed away from the deal.
Picking up the thread from other postings, WebProNews soon cited Microsoft as a likely buyer for Digg.
But the chain of speculation actually began much earlier -- way back on January 25, 2006, when blogger Kevin Burton incorrectly predicted that Yahoo would buy Digg the following week.
At press time, spokespersons for Digg and Allen & Co. had not returned phone calls and e-mails from BetaNews requesting confirmation or denial of the rumors. But they're probably accustomed to receiving inquiries about reported acquisition deals, many of which do turn out to be untrue.
I stopped my daily reading of digg when they brought in Microsoft to do all their ads.
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|Stopped my daily reading of Digg when they started deleting posts relating to the HDDVD hacks. Their traffic exploded after they did that, so I imagine they barely noticed me leaving.
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|can I digg this article?
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|Digg has gotten too big now and it isn't as nearly useful as it once was.
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|There have been a few threads on Digg on this subject. Consensus seems to be leaning toward a mass exodus if Digg is bought by anyone. I personally feel that Digg has went from being something very cool to a downright disaster. I really don't think anyone would give that kind of money for it. Honestly, they might be able to get 1% of that but, with the diggbots and hoards of people using ad blocking software there just doesn't seem to be any value there.
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|The problem with a site like digg being acquired by a major comopany like MS, is digg (used to) be sort've a rebel. I can see MS filtering content a lot moreso than the neo-digg has.
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|Digg... Tragedy of the Commons at it's best. :)
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|I know, it's so sad.
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|I'll tell you who needs to dig up some cash and buy Digg -- Yahoo! Not that I want this to happen, but for a company in desperate need of some hot internet commodities, this is a deal that they might not want to pass up.
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|Yeah like broadcast.com didn't leave yahoo with acquisition remorse for a few hundred years?
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