Comments on: Gawker Media Potential Sale to News Corp

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 01:43:29 +0000

Mcintosh, I find it ironic that an anonmous commenter would make accusations about the transparency and agendas of others.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 20:50:19 +0000

I didn’t see this as being a genuine acquisition rumour. It just didn’t seem right and it was way too close to the AOL/WIN merger. Just a nice bit of scuttlebutt to get the blogosphere excited.

Also, Duncan and Darren, you guys will have to get used to perceived conflict of interest now with both of your involvement in b5media.

It’s no different to mass media journalists who come under scrutiny when reporting on issues that COULD affect their parent company. People see ProBlogger and The Blog Herald as independent sources of information and your reader’s perception of a secret agenda when reading stories and posts no matter how open and ethical you two are will always exist.

By: John (SYNTAGMA)

John (SYNTAGMA) — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 10:26:41 +0000

True, Andy. If you divide $30m by 80 it comes to $375,000 per blog.

I can announce that my two personal blogs, SYNTAGMA and SYNTAGMA 2.0 are now on the market for $750,000 dollars. I wonder if MSN would be interested?

By: » Will MSN join blog network feeding frenzy? Microsoft Weblog

» Will MSN join blog network feeding frenzy? Microsoft Weblog — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 10:16:16 +0000

[...] Blog Herald and Problogger pick up on sources suggesting an approach to Nick Denton’s Gawker Media by the Murdoch giant News Corp. [...]

By: Andy Merrett

Andy Merrett — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 10:03:42 +0000

Yep, John, I’ve revalued Blue Fish and it’s monetary worth has doubled.

Now it’s worth $0.10 ;-)

By: SYNTAGMA 2.0 » Hurricane Jason Hits Blogosphere

SYNTAGMA 2.0 » Hurricane Jason Hits Blogosphere — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 09:44:19 +0000

[...] The Blog Herald reports the story here. Problogger speculates about a reported approach to Nick Denton’s Gawker Media from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. [...]

By: John (SYNTAGMA)

John (SYNTAGMA) — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 09:15:54 +0000

One thing’s for sure, b/network owners are repositioning themselves after today’s news and starting to revalue their properties. There’ll be a domino effect as the other mainstream media try to keep up, and b/networks attempt to cash in while their product is hot.

By: Andy Merrett

Andy Merrett — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 08:47:46 +0000

Darren can write about what he likes on his blog, McIntosh.

As for blog networks “not working” – define “working” – it seems you only consider “making millions” as “working”.

By: Darren Rowse

Darren Rowse — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 08:41:12 +0000

Duncan – might have been an approach – my source said nothing of that – but I’d lay money on them not selling if there was one.

Yep – some of you might have some points about News Corp being a better fit for Gawker than I give them ‘credit’ for. But I’d suggest they’d be more interested in other properties.

I guess time will tell.

By: Darren Rowse

Darren Rowse — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 08:37:34 +0000

Mcintosh – I don’t think I have any conflict of interest here.

I declare my interests – I try to blog as openly and honestly as I can about what I’m doing and what others are doing and I try to link not only to my own sites but others as freely as possible.

In fact I probably link to my own sites less often than I would naturally do at times.

ProBlogger is a blog about bloggers earning money – I think me writing about blog networks is part of that brief. I link to a variety of blog networks big and small – including some that some people would say are b5media’s competition.

This blog is also about what I learn from blogging – if you’re a regular reader of this site you’ll see that I regularly share what I learn from my different blogs. Yes this does give those blogs some publicity along the way but I would suggest to you that the costs involved in telling my secrets are also present. You’ll see me talk a bit about some of these in my Disclaimer.

In terms of Duncan – he and I linked to one another regularly well before we started doing business together. Again – since we started working together I think I’ve probably linked less to him. This is the first post I can see that i’ve linked to him in in 35 or so posts. How he chooses to link to me is his business.

The reason we do link to each other has more to do with an overlapping topic than anything else in the same way that I link regularly to other bloggers like Jen from Jensense.

In terms of b/networks ‘never working’ – I think you’ll find that there are a few blog network owners around who disagree with that – the Weblogs Inc guys being one of them :-)

By: Barry Bell

Barry Bell — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 08:31:47 +0000

Not true according to Denton…

“For what it’s worth, Gawker isn’t for sale. The whole point about blogs is that they’re not part of big media. Consolidation defeats the purpose. It’s way too early.”

By: Andy Merrett

Andy Merrett — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 08:30:17 +0000

Sorry to be cynical, but The Sun UK "news"paper is owned by News Corp. > the one that prides itself on offending and breaking a few rules. sounds like the paper to me. A perfect fit. I know the context is different, but even so... Sun's Denial of Service Attack Dudmanisms: Graham quotes today The Sun at it again: Breaking Geneva Convention? Not that I have anything against The Sun, of course. Ahem...

By: duncan

duncan — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 08:29:17 +0000

Darren
my source said not the porn sites, yes, definately not fleshbot, but I’m still convinced that its true, mainly because of the source, but I’d also note it was an approach, I’ve got nothing to say it was anything more than this. Now I’d only wish someone would approach me and offer to buy the Blog Herald for a million dollars :-)

By: Mcintosh

Mcintosh — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 08:03:44 +0000

Darren, do you believe you should be writing about this seeing you yourself run a b/netork

and you seem to be using your site as a focus group for your own needs. the blog herald also b5, has a post sourcing from you every 2-3 posts? and vica versa

it’s like Bill Gates writing a fair review about OpenOffice

every b/network owner is now probably dreaming of the millions they’ll make and by yours and duncans posts youre probably creaming yourslves.

b/networks will neverwork

By: Loren Baker

Loren Baker — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 08:00:07 +0000

“Also the more I think about it the more I doubt it – I mean can you imagine Fleshbot and Defamer etc in News Corp? ”

Hmmm… this is the company behind Joe Billionaire, When Animals Go Wild, Married with Children, The Family Guy, The Shield and Fox News…

Despite it being a rumor, yes, I could imagine Fleshbot and Defamer as part of Fox Interactive given their cutting edge (Family Guy,Shield, 24) and sleazy (Joe Billionaire blow job scene, Fox News) television history.

By: lyndon

lyndon — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 07:45:09 +0000

News Corp are playing catch up on the web, they are going around and spending big bucks, so it’s likely. They publish the Sun here in the UK, which is basically tabloid trash so maybe it does fit.

Corporations will always have a problem competing with single rabid bloogers – I being one – as we can turn on a dime and go off in any direction – this can be a problem too, but the big fat, bloated, white chip, tie wearing, corporation takes months of committee and meetings to make simple decisions.

Bring it on Murdoch, we are waiting for you!

hehe

By: Omar

Omar — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 07:37:18 +0000

Darren, Nick says his company is not for sale on his blog:
http://www.nickdenton.org/002153.html

By: duncan

duncan — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 06:46:21 +0000

Stuart
Aside from the source its one of the other reasons I published it,it makes a lot of sense as well and seems logical. Also if we know that News Corp talked to Weblogs Inc they would have definately talked to Gawker. Hopefully I’ll find out some more soon.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 06:32:57 +0000

And Rupert has been heard lately pontificating on the need for the news media to move with the times and engage their readership in dialogue.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 06:31:07 +0000

Even before I finished reading your piece Darren I realised that there was some common ground between Newscorp and Gawker. Then I read the bit about the gossip blogs and I wasn’t surprised at all.