calisthenic sawdust: WSJ: Sinking social news site Digg bought by NYC firm Betaworks (updated)

Friday, July 13, 2012

WSJ: Sinking social news site Digg bought by NYC firm Betaworks (updated)

Sinking social news site Digg bought for $500K by NYC firm Betaworks

Digg, once one of the shining stars of the social media world, is now a sad shell of of its former self. The once mighty news-sharing service founded by Kevin Rose, has just been snatched up by a small New York City firm called Betaworks for a paltry $500,000, according to the Wall Street Journal. The site still draws roughly seven million visitors a month, but that's a far cry from the more than 30 million is was pulling in during its 2008 heyday. And the pocket change paid for the property pales in comparison to the over $45 million it raised from investors over its lifetime. The sale follows the departure of its most high profile exec, the aforementioned Rose, who is now in charge of Google Ventures. Betaworks plans to revitalize the brand involve folding it into News.me, another social news service, which launched in April of last year. The deal only includes the property itself and the brand -- none of Digg's remaining employees will be making the move to Betaworks. Of course, there were very few left once the Washington Post subsidiary Social Code hired 15 engineers from the floundering service, which accounted for more than half of its workforce.

Update: As it turns out, that "$500,000" figure may not tell the whole story. TechCrunch and AllThingsD are both reporting that there's a lot more to consider besides the cash outlay.

Filed under: Internet