Digg.com has been sold.
It’s shocking but true: Digg, the social bookmark web site once valued at $160 million dollars, has been sold.
The price, even more shocking: a mere $500,000 paid for by Betaworks – a “new medium company” – that also owns URL shortener, Bit.ly.
While the sale has been officially confirmed by Digg, the amount is undisclosed but Wall Street Journal sources are adamant about the half a million price tag.
Digg that, if you may!
This sale makes no sense.
The domain is at least worth 500k
The Alexa Traffic Rank: 192 Traffic Rank in IN: 39
Sites Linking In: 1,034,657
I don’t understand ? Unless there is more cash under the table?
Peter – You’re thinking as a domainer. If the selling price of $500,000 is accurate, it’s not based on the above metrics.
Lucius,
I am thinking as a business person. Why sell so low?
Even if there were lots of liabilities, throw the corp into bankruptcy and reorganize.
Something about this price tag seems inaccurate
The brand equity alone is worth more then 500k
Heck, if I knew the property was for sale, I would have offered more then 500k maybe ((after looking at the books and monies (if any) owed creditors
Sale price was more than $500,000 . Check the techcrunch post.
Gnanes – Saw that, quoting what WSJ stated. Also, not sure why they are so reluctant to release the sales price, if it’s not $500,000.
Peter – Simply stating what Wall Street Journal’s coverage of the sale mentions. I said, *if* the $500k price is accurate, it would not be based on the metrics you quoted.
NY Times is also sticking to those numbers:
Someone is kicking themselves in the bum for not selling sooner….
Tia – This is physically impossible.
As per latest post on TechCrunch, the Washington Post paid $12 million for the Digg team and around the same period LinkedIn paid between $3.75 million and $4 million for around 15 different Digg patents including the patent on “click a button to vote up a story. Betaworks bought remaining assets for $500K + equity.
Rahul – Looks like Betaworks got Digg.com (the domain, code, data and all the traffic) for about $500k. The staff and other IP assets are already sold. So the story is accurate, in the corporate sense at least.
“The domain is at least worth 500k” – I don’t think so!
A brand is in the same time a value maker, but can be also a value breaker. The company and the site were going down, the future was not looking good for them. Their time was gone.
So.. digg.com maybe could be worth more IF the company never existed before.. but now, this name is already set in the people minds. A rebranding is much harder than a new brand.
That is! It follows the normal company-product lifecycle.
DiggAd by: “my site looks like a facebook clone!!”
:p
Wow it’s really shocking… just $500k for digg?
ebookee.org just sold $2,000,000 at flippa, I think digg min sold for millions
Happy Friday the 13th.
It’s like buying a cow at a meat shop. Everyone got a piece of the Digg cow.
Betaworks paid for the domain, code, data and all the traffic for between $500k and $725k.
More update: http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/12/digg-sold-to-linkedin-and-the-washington-post-and-betaworks/
AT LAST! A real domain purchase price! This entire industry is a propped up lie. FOR ONCE maybe a real price has been disclosed. ANYBODY who believes 95% of “claimed sales” is just looking to throw their money away! People DO NOT pay the prices DNJOURNAL posts!!! They just don’t! I have been domaining for 7 years and I can tell you it is all pretty much fabricated from Sedo on. it’s simply bullshit!!!!!
This can not be TRUE!!
It was made up to become a breaking news!
zap – Which part of the news don’t you understand?
I see how the sale was broken out, but you have to include all the pieces that were sold to make up the value of the company. If the numbers above are right, Digg as a whole was worth around $16 million (which still seems low).
To get the domain, website, and traffic for $500k seems like a steal.
Domains – Equity in something does not equal cash value, it’s a speculative way of evaluation.
Google offered Digg $200 million in 2008
There’s a lesson right there
In the real world, business valuations have little to do with domain search metrics and analytics.
Primarily, business value is determined by projected revenues and /or earnings; plus net assets. In the instance of Digg, the market perceives it as a dying product with little promise of a respectable return on investment.
Domain and website analytics measure historical data; information not necessarily relative to future prospects. The value of any business – even those that are entirely internet-based and traffic dependent – is based on the success of the business model; market trends and dynamics; competitive environment; and other such ever-changing factors.
Digg’s relevance to the marketplace has been supplanted by industry-disruptive new products, technologies and consumer preferences. It’s audience share of target markets has been on a steep, accelerating decline.
In fact, the only way to justify the price of $500,000 (plus profit and/or equity participation not yet made public) is if the purchaser has specific plans for an alternative use of the company’s assets and remaining audience.