Digg sold for $500,000 (yes, only five 0's)

12 years ago

Well I guess the owner of Digg didn't want $200,000,000 in 2008. SMH
He must have had his own personal reason for not selling for
that much money.

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Kurt

12 years ago

Only $500,000? It's probably worth that much just for SEO.

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billthelord

12 years ago

That's amazing. One of the lessons from this might be to "sell when you get a great offer."

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fedor50

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Calamaroo

Used to be worth as much as $160,000,000. In 2008, Google wanted it for $200,000,000! ARTICLE

Wow that's shocking. I would have at least expected Digg to demand somewhere in the millions range

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Angela V. Edwards

12 years ago

Who purchased it, do you know?

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billthelord 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Angela V. Edwards

Who purchased it, do you know?

The buyer is New York technology development firm Betaworks, which is attempting to revive a news-sharing site that was outmaneuvered by Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc.

Very interesting read.
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- towhidzaman 12 years ago
  
  Really its very interesting. Everybody should take a look. Feeling sorry for all bookmarking website... They disappearing. & Google getting more n more power...
  
  Originally Posted by billthelord
  
  Very interesting read.
  
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Rod Cortez 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Angela V. Edwards

Who purchased it, do you know?

Straight from the article: "The buyer is New York technology development firm Betaworks."

RoD
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Angela V. Edwards

12 years ago

Thank you for this information.

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Kal Sallam

12 years ago

Why are we seeing major sites being sold recently. Hostgator was also just sold.

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sbucciarel Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Kal Sallam

Why are we seeing major sites being sold recently. Hostgator was also just sold.

Well, I wouldn't call Digg a major site. Hasn't been one for awhile now, hence the dirt cheap price. But to answer the question ... I think nearly every site owner has a price point at which they would sell.
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Cyberdog1 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Kal Sallam

Why are we seeing major sites being sold recently. Hostgator was also just sold.

New World Order

Hostgator sold for an incredibly high Market Price as it should do for it's worth and that was more of a takeover by the owners of Bluehost, I can't believe Digg sold for $500,000 (£362,000) though!

That's the price of a 2 bedroom apartment in Ealing. London!

It may not be as major as it once was but at that price and with a bit more investment and a few changes it could be pushed right back up to the higher echelons
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imgeek2727

12 years ago

That's one ZERO too much. Let's face it, what made Digg such a compelling community was the tight-knit group of "cool kids" that coalesced around the site. These guys, as annoying as they might have seemed at times, wielded lots of influence because many of them also blogged and also posted on many forums. When Digg decided to "monetize" the site harder, the cool kids shipped out to ... you guessed it... Reddit. Digg, to this group, "sold out."

That's why 4chan.org is very careful how it tweaks its site. You don't want to tick off the community that puts food on your table.

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wenotice

12 years ago

Originally Posted by imgeek2727

That's one ZERO too much. Let's face it, what made Digg such a compelling community was the tight-knit group of "cool kids" that coalesced around the site. These guys, as annoying as they might have seemed at times, wielded lots of influence because many of them also blogged and also posted on many forums. When Digg decided to "monetize" the site harder, the cool kids shipped out to ... you guessed it... Reddit. Digg, to this group, "sold out."

That's why 4chan.org is very careful how it tweaks its site. You don't want to tick off the community that puts food on your table.

Yes you do have to take into account the community. But you also have to grow the business and be able to adapt. I think they sold for a bargain, but it makes me wonder what else was behind the deal for such a low price. I suppose we will see what happens in the coming months.

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billthelord

12 years ago

The power of Twitter and Facebook.

Wonder what the next 'super power' will be to knock them off.

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imgeek2727

12 years ago

Originally Posted by billthelord

The power of Twitter and Facebook.

Wonder what the next 'super power' will be to knock them off.

Twitter, despite the high profile, is actually looking vulnerable. Its monetization system and business model are, frankly, WEAK. So much hype. So much influence. Not much to show for it. Honestly, I think its founders missed the boat when they chose to turn Twitter into an ad-powered DESTINATION like Google instead of an API / Cloud services firm.

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billthelord

12 years ago

Originally Posted by imgeek2727

Twitter, despite the high profile, is actually looking vulnerable. Its monetization system and business model are, frankly, WEAK. So much hype. So much influence. Not much to show for it. Honestly, I think its founders missed the boat when they chose to turn Twitter into an ad-powered DESTINATION like Google instead of an API / Cloud services firm.

Good analysis. I agree. There have been some good articles on how they started and all the turbulence they face. It will be interesting to see if they get knocked off their perch in the next couple of years.

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imgeek2727

12 years ago

Originally Posted by billthelord

Good analysis. I agree. There have been some good articles on how they started and all the turbulence they face. It will be interesting to see if they get knocked off their perch in the next couple of years.

That would be bad news indeed for marketers that successfully figured out how to turn retweets into gold. There was a buy and sell ad from a webmaster selling his dating site twitter business for 100K at another site. Twitter is no joke. Let's hope it doesn't get knocked off its perch because it serves a great social function (and makes some people rich) WHILE generating good returns for its investors. Win Win situation. That's the gold standard of business - everyone wins, right?

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bt 12 years ago

You know the old saying, can't cry over spilt milk, but I bet Dig wishes they would have took the $200,000,000 offer when Google wanted to buy.
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- kolbywhite28 12 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by bt
  
  You know the old saying, can't cry over spilt milk, but I bet Dig wishes they would have took the $200,000,000 offer when Google wanted to buy.
  
  I'm pretty sure at that time, they were thinking they can turn the company into a much bigger one.
  
  Anybody is thinking what the 7 million visitors per month represent in terms of email marketing and CPA?
  
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StevenBernard

12 years ago

Haven't heard much about Digg lately, its always been a useful tool tho

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AceOfShirts

12 years ago

Guess they should have made a movie about how it was created and then taken the company public.

Very interesting article to read. I'm in the planning stages of a couple of social sites that I think have the potential to become pretty big. Guess I'll have to sell when I get a really good offer.

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billthelord

12 years ago

Didn't Mark Cuban sell out to Yahoo just at the right time?

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WillR

12 years ago

What a fool for not selling when they could have. Digg was only ever going down hill. It was not a long-term business model especially with sites like Facebook and Twitter hitting the scene. Why would people go to the bother of posting stuff on Digg when they can share it instantly with their friends?

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kolbywhite28

12 years ago

Originally Posted by WillR

What a fool for not selling when they could have. Digg was only ever going down hill. It was not a long-term business model especially with sites like Facebook and Twitter hitting the scene. Why would people go to the bother of posting stuff on Digg when they can share it instantly with their friends?

You are speaking with the benefit of hindsight. Reddit seems to be going up.

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WillR 12 years ago

Originally Posted by kolbywhite28

You are speaking with the benefit of hindsight. Reddit seems to be going up.

I sure am... and ain't it a great thing.

I bet the owner(s) of Digg wish they had the advantage of hindsight.

In my mind they were either greedy or the money didn't matter to them.

If it was greed that made them turn down those original offers then all I can say is sucked in. No business is a certain especially in the online world. So if you get a ridiculously high offer why on earth would you not take it.

If it was because money didn't matter to them then cool. They don't care anyway.
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- Nicole7575 12 years ago
  
  ah...the good ol' days of Digg ....The price tag appears more like a distress firesale
  
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Fraggler

12 years ago

Originally Posted by WillR

What a fool for not selling when they could have. Digg was only ever going down hill. It was not a long-term business model especially with sites like Facebook and Twitter hitting the scene. Why would people go to the bother of posting stuff on Digg when they can share it instantly with their friends?

There was nothing wrong with the type of site. Reddit is pumping along nicely. The problem was as mentioned before - pushing the community away to try and make more from it. Digg and Reddit lets you share with the whole world, not just your friends.

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vikingmarketer

12 years ago

Yep digg more or less ended up doing the myspace mistake.

Place advertisement in a way that was annoying to users.

And also the bigger sites that have been sold recently shouldn't freak anyone out.

When you run such big sites, especially the way they are setup. It's gonna be a battle most of the time even with lots of employees.

And who wouldn't want to get rid of the possible stress to make sure the sites and employees is at the top, if you have had the sites in quite some years.

If it were me I would probably also do that after some time, to be able to kick back and relax and possibly dive into other ventures.

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THK

12 years ago

From the article-

Digg received higher offers from bidders that included technology and publishing companies and start-ups but ultimately decided Betaworks had the best plan for reviving its brand

would be interesting to know what kind of offer they turned down.

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Mike Hlatky

12 years ago

$45 million of investor money turned into $500,000

Pretty good ROI

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shg

12 years ago

Well digg was one of the very powerful site but lately naah! it was not that powerful that it use too...thats the reason its gotta go at low price compare to the previous price...

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kindsvater

12 years ago

Wow. This is one of the biggest financial losers of all-time. Not often you something valued around $200,000,000 drop to $500,000 in a couple years.

Greed Kills the Pig is one of my favorite sayings.

Ya' know, whether it is $200M, or $160M, or $100M, who cares - someone would have been set for life. And they blew it.

.

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kolbywhite28

12 years ago

Originally Posted by kindsvater

Wow. This is one of the biggest financial losers of all-time. Not often you something valued around $200,000,000 drop to $500,000 in a couple years.

Greed Kills the Pig is one of my favorite sayings.

Ya' know, whether it is $200M, or $160M, or $100M, who cares - someone would have been set for life. And they blew it.

.

Surely they thought that the site had great potential to grow. Can you imagine Zuckerberg selling Facebook when it was worth $200m? He wouldn't be worth $10b today.

I think what is of more concern is how they lost popularity so quickly.

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yusufjaafar

12 years ago

I think it shoud add one more 'zero' into the figure... At least

$ 5,000,000

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chrisck

12 years ago

Betaworks claimed they paid for 'core assets'.

And the only last piece of valuable asset left with Digg is user data, which barely covered by the 500k price.

Meaning Digg has reached its end. They're luring users into their mobile platform.

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Skaught27

12 years ago

I'd take $500k, but I don't think I could live knowing I turned down $200 mil!

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faisalmaximus

12 years ago

Recently a lot of important and valuable sites are being sold Digg, Hostgator, Skype & ......

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xxxJamesxxx

12 years ago

I would of thought it would of sold for more.

Ah well... Goes show.

James Scholes

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denysapu

12 years ago

Interesting!
I do not even really understand what the the usability of Digg. Come - Digging - and leave

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bladening

12 years ago

All started that failure relaunch

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kolbywhite28 12 years ago

Originally Posted by bladening

All started that failure relaunch

As they say, if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.
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John Durham

12 years ago

A bird in hand is better than two in a bush -Moral: "Get" while the "gettin" is good, as they say.

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planck

12 years ago

hell my site is worth more than $500k

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Joseph Then

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Alisha R

Maybe the owner of digg had some urgent need for money

Maybe he's drunk prior to selling DIGG.

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Hardik Jogi

12 years ago

Why is everyone reporting that digg is sold for $500k? It's remaining assets were sold for $500k. Total figure is $16 million

Source : Digg Sold To LinkedIn AND The Washington Post And Betaworks | TechCrunch

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Chrisbroholm

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Hardik Jogi

Why is everyone reporting that digg is sold for $500k? It's remaining assets were sold for $500k. Total figure is $16 million

Source : Digg Sold To LinkedIn AND The Washington Post And Betaworks | TechCrunch

Because that's how the news broke, that allegedly Digg had been sold for $500k. It wasn't until later that the story received some more information and one of the people involved corrected the story.

$16,000,000 isn't all bad, but compared with the 160-200 first mentioned its still low!

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sbucciarel

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Hardik Jogi

Why is everyone reporting that digg is sold for $500k? It's remaining assets were sold for $500k. Total figure is $16 million

Source : Digg Sold To LinkedIn AND The Washington Post And Betaworks | TechCrunch

Interesting. Like an old car being sold for scrap metal. Broken down and sold in bits and pieces.

Digg Dugg it's own grave a long time ago.

Elgan: Why Digg failed - Computerworld

Digg feels like it was designed by a committee with the purpose of pleasing investors. Digg is complex, arbitrary and uninviting.

Meanwhile, its social bookmarking rival, Reddit, has remained true to its purpose and mission.

Digg was created as an act of rebellion against the media elite. But it ended up being suffocated by control. You can't post this. You can't post that. If you're the wrong kind of person, or have the wrong interests, you're not welcome on Digg. Go away.

Well, we got the message.

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Fernando Veloso

12 years ago

Ouch...!! Even for 16 M it's a huge lose.

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dadamson

12 years ago

Wow, what a difference.

It shows how rapidly things move online!

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daj 12 years ago

Actually the total price of the Digg acquisition was around $16 million...
Digg Sold To LinkedIn AND The Washington Post And Betaworks | TechCrunch
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theoptionsprofessor

Banned 12 years ago

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Onora Oz 12 years ago

Originally Posted by theoptionsprofessor

wow! I'll bet that was worth $10m+ 7 years ago. Things change fast online.

7 years is a pretty long period in this age of humanity. I guess

I hated whatever happened to Digg in 2010. I was an active Digg news reporter before that. All that censorship and annoying advertorials...
I haven't used it for anything other than marketing purposes since then.

Quoted from some news site:
In a statement, Betaworks said it will fold Digg into News.me, its mobile social news site. Betaworks promised to "turn Digg back into a start-up. Low budget, small team, fast cycles."
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Chris Thompson

12 years ago

This article from NYT explaining the sale of Digg is missing something. I call out crappy reporting on this one (not from the OP, from the journalist).

I bet 99.999% chance that there is a huge equity component to this deal, and the cash is only a small part of it.

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cashp0wer 12 years ago

Wow - only $500,000? That is completely amazing. It was probably work much more than that a few years ago.
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Bryan Zazz

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Calamaroo

Used to be worth as much as $160,000,000. In 2008, Google wanted it for $200,000,000!

the owner must have received an offer that he couldn't possibly refuse. Kudos for the negotiator who made the deal (just hope he/she did not have to put a horse head into the site owner's bed, just sayin...)

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Scott Ames

12 years ago

I still think Groupon made a blunder by not selling for $6 billion when they had the offer. We'll have to wait and see on that one.

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HostWind

12 years ago

While certainly appears to be a loss at least the owner(s) still made some money. Though, I cant imagine what it would feel like to go from a 200 milly offer down to just a few. Ouch.

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Walter Parrish 12 years ago

lol
I guess they should have learned the science of Rinse & Repeat. Nothing stopped them from recreating a few sites and testing to see if they could make more money from them first.

I'm curious as to why people think FB and Twitter are so large when its apparent that FB is the product of the major corporations as far as Twitter anyone that knows a little about programming can see that it's not the best code which leaves rooms for competitors to move in.

Other thing's I would be interested to find out is how many here are actually getting paying customers off the facebook? I see many plugins selling on the warrior forum, but I haven't noticed any money stats from these plugins.
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Weblin

12 years ago

It is sold in parts to three different companies.

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Amandasimmons

12 years ago

It's just an acquisition and should not be seen as a deal of 500,0000. The owner wanted it to be given to a company that could spend millions to revive it. According to experts, it's still no less than $80 million.

To run a business, you need to have capital. Digg has got what it needed.

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marketwarrior06

Banned 12 years ago

Dude its easy to say. but if you were in that place you would never sell digg too. because its generating a huge amount for you. So why should you sell it?

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Walter Parrish

12 years ago

Originally Posted by marketwarrior06

Dude its easy to say. but if you were in that place you would never sell digg too. because its generating a huge amount for you. So why should you sell it?

I would definitely sell my first successful business and then like they say rinse and repeat with a different business, something bigger and better. It's basically what hinders the average business person, that Entrepreneur Mindset.

There's a ton of business that got carried out, because they didn't want to diversify, they loved doing what they liked so to speak. In fact I will go ahead and say that any business that isn't constantly changing and diversifying is destined to fail.

Take a look at the history of IBM's history. The only thing that kept them alive to date is diversifying. The held sort of a monopoly on the desktop pc for ages, but refused to put out low end models so that side of the business failed.

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ramsfir

12 years ago

[quote=Calamaroo;6599186]Used to be worth as much as $160,000,000. In 2008, Google wanted it for $200,000,000!

Truly schocking. A lesson to be learnt from, thanks great info