Jumat, 13 Juli 2012

Diggs Leftovers Sold for Pennies to Betaworks


Digg, or rather the remaining pieces, has been sold off for a rather measly sum, some half a million dollars, maybe a bit more. Betaworks bought what was left to be bought, the site, the brand, the data and the domain. Digg is being folded into Betaworks' News.me outfit.

That's the same Digg that was getting acquisition offers rumored to be as high as $200 million six years ago. Digg raised $45 million from investors over time.

Six years is a very long time; Digg managed to squander all of its users and power as it wandered aimlessly towards a monetization model.

A much maligned redesign pushed even the last fans towards Reddit, which is flying high today. Digg has been sold once already, twice, it turns out.

"Betaworks is combining Digg with News.me, a Betaworks company with an iPad app, iPhone app and daily email that delivers the best stories shared by your friends on Facebook and Twitter," Digg announced.

"Digg will join a portfolio of products developed by Betaworks designed to improve the way people find and talk about the news. Betaworks founder John Borthwick will be the CEO of the new Digg," it said.

"Coming soon, Betaworks will unveil a new cloud-based version of Digg to complement the current News.me iPhone and iPad apps. Stay tuned," it added.

The Washington Post's Social Code picked up the Digg team a few months ago. The WaPo is said to have paid some $12 million for the team.

Another buyer was revealed as well, LinkedIn paid as much as $4 million for several Digg patents, 15 of them, one for the "upvote" button.

That brings the total sum to $16 - $17 million, a much more respectable figure. Still, it's way below what it could have gotten if it sold at the right time, and about a third of what investors poured in the company.

Via: Diggs Leftovers Sold for Pennies to Betaworks

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