Neowin.net - Google In Final Negotiations To Acquire Digg

Google In Final Negotiations To Acquire Digg

Posted by Tom Warren on 23 July 2008 - 06:13 · 21 comments & 5510 views

Google’s on and off negotiations with Digg have been back on in a big way for the last six weeks, we’ve heard from multiple sources inside of Google, and the two companies are close to a deal that will bring Digg under the Google News property. The acquisition price is in the $200 million range, says one source.

TechCrunch first wrote about the Google-Digg negotiations in March. Despite a vigorous denial by Digg CEO Jay Adelson the negotiations continued, although Google’s Marissa Mayer reportedly cooled on the company for a period of time.

The companies are now in final negotiations according to our sources, although it could be a couple of weeks before it closes. And while the major deal points have been agreed on, the acquisition could still fall apart. Microsoft, which was previously interested in the company, may be willing to step back in at a much lower price.

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#1 Posted by +GreyWolfSC on 23 Jul 2008 - 06:20: I guess I'll have a Digg account again if they merge logins like they did with YouTube.

_{Angelica Graynamore
I have no response to that.}

#2 Posted by GrimReeper on 23 Jul 2008 - 06:30: I think this would be good for all parties. Hopefully Google can implement ads onto Digg better than they are currently and fix diggs search while it will give google a way to into social news/networking especially if they link it with youtube.

#3 Posted by al11588 on 23 Jul 2008 - 07:28: Kevin Rose is going to be Ballllllllllllllllllllin.

(1 reply) #4 Posted by boho on 23 Jul 2008 - 07:53: Never really took much notice of Digg. The site is another media "gatekeeper", perhaps slightly less censoring than normal corporate news (especially the US main stream media - TV and print), but good stories "which don't fit", "disappear". Google seem to be going the same way (way too powerful), this does not bode well for the future of the Internet (unless you own Google stock!. Corporate America will start turning the screws, or break them up. They are now sucking up too much advertising.

It took regulators (and I detest that word) way too long to stamp on Microsoft - and the mess continues to this day! The same lack of control is happening with Google. In a totally free markets, the powerful always usurp the small guys. This is the reason why 95% of the wealth of the USA is with about 5% of its people, everyone else is scrabbling after the crumbs. Read, or watch the film of George Orwell's "1984" (Eric Blair - an ex BBC employee) "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." (Lord Acton, in a letter to Bishop Creighton in 1887)

(2 replies) #5 Posted by Chicane-UK on 23 Jul 2008 - 08:10: I bet Kevin Rose can't wait. A dot com millionaire - looks like it can still happen even in this day and age!

I worry for the future of Digg though - I use the site regularly!

(2 replies) #6 Posted by C++ on 23 Jul 2008 - 10:34: This is a good thing, Google has yet to ruin any company they bought.

(3 replies) #7 Posted by +zer0day on 23 Jul 2008 - 12:11: Waste of money, Digg is not worth it. It comes with the baggage of trolls and kids who spam submissions with lame stories linking to their blog.

(1 reply) #8 Posted by naap51stang on 23 Jul 2008 - 12:56: IF....they are acquired by Google, I hope they have a better way of "green lighting" submissions, and a better way to
keep from stacking the deck. I get enough political news during the day, and get tired of 7 out of 10 articles on the
front page being about politics!

#9 Posted by z0phi3l on 23 Jul 2008 - 14:34: I really hope Google does the right thing if the acquire Digg, and that is shutter that garbage "service"

#10 Posted by obsolete_power on 23 Jul 2008 - 19:39: I think this is a good thing. Google knows what to do with things they acquire. I like what they did with YouTube. The only thing that worries me is that with each acquisition, they get more and more powerful. In the end, this could be a bad thing. But right now I say we enjoy while Google is not evil at least, not visibly.

#11 Posted by KavazovAngel on 23 Jul 2008 - 21:50: I am kinda worried about the competition here. Everyone seems to try to bring Microsoft to court whenever they buy something big, but that does not happens with Google. Strange thing.

#12 Posted by David3k on 24 Jul 2008 - 05:38: Am I the only one offended by this development?

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