Microsoft, Google: vying for Digg?
p2pnet news | Advertising:- Digg has been, "working with influential investment bank Allen & Co. (the ones that recently got Slide a half billion dollar valuation) for a few months now, and pitching big tech and media companies on a sale," says TechCrunch.
Now, "We hear from a source very close to the deal that four companies are in heavy due diligence with Digg - two media/news companies, and two big Internet companies".
Like who?
Like, surprise surprise, Google and Microsoft.
And it’s all about advertising.
Google and Microsoft, "are on the verge of making their bids," says the story, going on:
"Digg is prepared to take less than the $300 million Allen & Co. were floating late last year. Google, our source says, will likely bid $200-$225 million, which Digg would likely accept."
No kidding 
But, TechCrunch continues, "Microsoft is looking at a somewhat lower price. That makes sense, since most of Digg’s revenue today comes from a three year advertising deal that Digg signed with Microsoft last year. That deal has revenue guarantees - and Microsoft may be hesitant to value Digg based on revenue that they supply.
Adds the post:
"Any sale is likely to give Microsoft an option to terminate that advertising deal, which means Google isn’t valuing Digg based on revenue, either. But it is a big slap in the face to Microsoft to steal Digg away, and Google can certainly generate revenue on all those page views."
No kidding
Speaking of advertising, for the first time since it started up, p2pnet is now looking to rent space in general terms.
You can be a huge help by taking 30 seconds to fill in our user survey, created to give Ken Baron, the guy who’s now looking after that end of things, data to pass on to advertisers.
And don’t worry —- we’re not collecting anything other than the responses to the questions.
Cheers! And thanks …
Jon Newton - p2pnet
Also See:
TechCrunch - Google, Microsoft Said To Be Preparing Bids For Digg, March 7, 2008
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March 7th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Word of mouth advertising rules, it’s the only kind of advertising I believe in, they pitch too many lies at us through their regular ad channels. If you really want to know what works and what doesn’t, search deep through forums for the stuff you care about, and then when you’ve got an informed opinion, buy (or not.) Do you think MS told people with their XBOX 360 ads “BTW, these babies run hoooooooot.” No they didn’t. I worked at a The *PS Store, and I saw a damn parade of those machines going back in for repairs.