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Let the Bidding War Begin!
Q: If you're a company that publishes around
130 85 weblogs most people have never
heard of, pays few or none of those bloggers a liveable salary, and
has a reported 15 employees overall, how much is your company
worth?
A: $25 million, apparently.
Dot-bubble huckster turned late-blooming blog evangelist Jason Calacanis has apparently sold his Weblogs, Inc. to that Big Brother who never was, AOL. No doubt about it -- this is just fantastic news for everybody (lowly bloggers, blowsy bullshitters, '90s nostalgics, and those of us who fondly remember the days when dollar-a-word tech/biz writing assignments fell out of the sky like fat peaches from God) ... with the probable exception of AOL shareholders, who arguably are getting what they deserve, anyway.
Press release here.
More reaction over at BuzzMachine.
The one Calacanis site I've enjoyed: Dallas Mavericks owner (and Weblogs, Inc. investor) Mark Cuban.
In July, I asked the eternal question: "Major media companies are investing in blogs. Is this a new boom or just a bubble?"
And fear not -- Lou Dobbs' Space.com is still publishing something amazing every day.
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nofollow breaks blogs|10.6.05 @ 2:49PM|#
Uh, do you know how much Calcanis says weblogsinc makes? If they can keep going, $25 mil won't be a big amount.
|10.6.05 @ 7:18PM|#
Doing a little more looking around, I see they're on the second page of G results for sundance, live8, and... "digital photography". I'd imagine the last brings in a good chunk of change. What's here seems like they could have caught it.
|10.6.05 @ 7:27PM|#
I don't know why a guy with great similes like "fell out of the sky like fat peaches from God" asks for help with metaphors.
|10.6.05 @ 9:00PM|#
that Mark Cuban's right on..blogmaverick, baby, blogmaverick.
Jason Smith|10.7.05 @ 1:57AM|#
Sweet news! I just checked my Google AdSense account and I pulled in a killer 38 cents today! Just 66 million more days, I'll be up there with Calacanis. Good news, indeed.
Tim Worstall|10.7.05 @ 10:05AM|#
If Nick Denton sells out to an Israeli company then you will know the bubble�s over (check the history of First Tuesday).
spacemonkey|10.7.05 @ 11:43AM|#
The bad news, he's getting paid in free AOL hours.
Enrico Schaefer|10.7.05 @ 1:27PM|#
Someday the money men will get smart and see it is the content and ideas that are worth the money, not the back end code which is 1995 technology finally catching up with end-user ability.