I’ve now heard from two sources close to Yahoo which tell me that Yahoo is going to be buying Digg for nearly $30M. I haven’t yet heard from anyone working for Yahoo that this is 100% (they obviously had ‘no comment’) but I’d be surprised if we didn’t hear an announcement by early next week.

Since Digg launched, the service resonated with users who wanted a way to find hot and alternative news. I think what we’re now seeing is a new space emerge alongside RSS aggregation with Digg, Reddit, and TailRank being major players.

Graph

If Digg continues on this pace they’re going to need Yahoo’s help scaling the site as hardware alone should become a major expense. With Delicious, Digg, Flickr and related services, Yahoo seems willing to do whatever it takes to ‘own’ Web 2.0.

Update: Change “not seeing” to “now seeing above. Also …. sorry for the lack of reply to comments and trackbacks as I was a bit under the weather this morning… more to come.

Update 2: The Digg blog officially denies the acquisition. Jeremy was smart enough to have “no comment”… Next time there’s a Digg acquisition rumor you’ll know you’re on to something :)


  1. Paul Graham

    “I think what we’re not seeing is a new space…”

    Did you mean *now* seeing?

  2. Easton Ellsworth

    And for Yahoo!, spending a few million to grab up an existing successful startup may be easier than spending a few million to hire more brains and starting from scratch on a “beta” imitator of its own. It’s using its power judiciously.

  3. Mike Beckham

    Wow They are going to get a good amount of profit. They deserve it damn G4 ;)

  4. Brian Del Vecchio

    Kevin, I’ve been reading your blog all the time now because you’ve got your finger on the pulse. TailRank is up there with Memeorandum in my essential sources, too. Keep up the good work.

    And I know I’m picking a minor nit here, but it’s about meaning, not style:

    Kevin, you of all people should know that the HTML strikeout tag isn’t rendered by most RSS readers, so your sentence still reads wrong for (I’m just guessing here) the vast majority of your readers.

  5. anonymous

    In other news, YAHOO IS EATING EVERYTHING.

  6. Eze

    don’t forget about Gabbr as another leading social news site

    http://www.gabbr.com

  7. David

    Y! has Flickr, Delicious, and YouTube. Digg is/was the next likely candidate (see: http://plunar.blogspot.com/2006/01/youtube-sold.html)
    Especially true since Digg just broke into the top 1000 most visited sites.

    What next? Social bookmarks for locations? If so, check out: http://www.rrove.com

  8. Charles Hill

    I don’t know about this $30 Million dollars? for something that has not been around that long. That seems a little absurd. Sure it has to be less than $10 Million for this to even begin to sound right. I don’t doubt it will be bought out soon but $30M thats way too much

  9. FrogEngine

    Man you guys got me in trouble - I’ve been spreading that rumor as well ;)

    Edited my Blog entry though ;)

  10. CetaMac

    I don’t think that Digg, a new site and still using Googel adsence as one of their incoming sources, would really deny Yahoo’s acquisition, all they posted on blog are just negotiation artifice for a better sales price. It’s not so interested for a deeper researching. For the Web2.0 leading competition between Yahoo and Google may attract more. They’re both conforming it’s own Web2.0 SuperSuite to look for winning the standard establishment station. It seems Yahoo leads the race before Google, but Yahoo conform resources by acquisition should put in consideration.

    Yahoo Conforming it’s Web2.0 SuperSuite

  11. softy

    Rumor … Yahoo acquiring a Indian Social Networking Site.

    Is it Bharatstudent.com ? or any other ?

  1. 1 TechCrunch

    Digg Acquisition Rumors

    Is Yahoo acquiring Digg? Jeremy Botter and Kevin Burton say yes, but Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg, says Rumors we are focused on features, not selling the company. in a comment (#64).

    I have no direct information on this, but K…

  2. 2 Conversion Rater

    Rumors Swirling That Yahoo Will Buy Digg

    Rumors are swirling that Yahoo is going to acquire Digg. Ive already seen two posts saying theyve heard its in the 30-50 million range.
    Well probably see in the next few weeks whether or not its true. If so, it wo…

  3. 3 顶啊网会员飞戈

    Trackback:Yahoo购买的下一个对象是digg?

    据Digg的创造者Kevin Rose说这个消息是假的.

  4. 4 Peer Pressure

    Get Your Diggs In

    I subscribed to the Digg feed a few weeks ago, and I’d have to agree with Russell Beattie: the wisdom of crowds is rapidly being overwhelmed by foolishness. There’s also an off-putting bias towards Digg-boostering in the frontpage stories. This may pla…

  5. 5 Mashable*

    Ya Digg? Yahoo Buying Digg, Allegedly

    Kevin Burton is repeating the rumor - with more surety this time - that Yahoo will indeed buy Digg next week. The figure of $30 million is being suggested. Ill keep my opinions to myself until we actually get some confirmation.

  6. 6 suadd blog

    Yahoo!がdiggを買収する?

    Kevin Burton’s Feed Blog: Yahoo Will Buy…

  7. 7 Microsiervos

    Rumor de la semana: Yahoo se dispone a comprar Digg

    No es la primera vez que se oye este rumor, pero Kevin Burton lo ve esta vez lo suficientemente claro como para hablar de que la operación sería por un importe de unos 30 millones de dólares y que podría…

  8. 8 Blogs4biz

    Rumors - Yahoo! vuole Digg

    Per ora manca la conferma ufficiale, ma fonti autorevoli della blogosfera non sembrano lasciare molti dubbi: Yahoo! si offerta di acquistare Digg, il noto sito di informazione dove i lettori possono proporre, votare e commentare le notizie determ…

  9. 9 Microsiervos

    Rumor de la semana: Yahoo se dispone a comprar Digg

    No es la primera vez que se oye este rumor, pero Kevin Burton lo ve esta vez lo suficientemente claro como para hablar de que la operación sería por un importe de unos 30 millones de dólares y que podría…

  10. 10 Trevoro

    Yahoo buying Digg?

    Rumors are flying that Yahoo has a $30M bid on the table to acquire the social news site Digg. Kevin Burton and Jeremy Botter have pointed to sources who claim the deal should go down sometime next week. Given the search engines focus on the so…

  11. 11 pundes.de

    Schlägt Yahoo wieder zu?

    Nach Informationen des Bloggers Kevin Burton steht Yahoo kurz davor, den Blogger-Dienst Digg für knapp 30 Millionen US-Dollar zu kaufen.
    Digg versteht sich als Anbieter von alternativen Online-Nachrichten, die nicht über die klassischen Verteilwege (…

  12. 12 A View from the Isle

    Will Yahoo Digg it?

    It was noted earlier this week that Yahoo is on a stealth buying spree, picking up small Web 2.0 related companies to further bolster its …

  13. 13 ctype(yourBrain, myBrain)

    Digg Dug (and undug)

  14. 14 AMCP Tech Blog

    Will Yahoo! Buy Digg?

    I’ve been hearing about the recent rumors that Yahoo is in talks with Digg to be bought out for a rumored $30 billion. However, the rumors were denied by Kevin Rose.

  15. 15 BlogCommentary.com

    This is absurd for Yahoo! to think like this

    Yahoo! may have other ideas but jumping into make dollars from all the growing website is something they should think about. How many different services are they going to provide? Will Digg take over Google news then? Will Google look into buying them?

  16. 16 dsandler.org

    Silicon Valley Damashii, or, the Yahoo! endgame

    So it appears (though it is still a rumor) that Yahoo! is all set to acquire Digg.

    Why is Yahoo! buying up all these niche websites?

    Much has been made of Y!s (semi-)recent purchases of del.icio.us and Flickr.
    Delicious, start…

  17. 17 suadd blog

    Yahoo!がdiggを買収する?

    Kevin Burton’s Feed Blog: Yahoo Will Buy…

  18. 18 \\~Indefinite Integral

    Yahoo to buy Digg! : Oh, no say it isnt so

    Although, Kevin Rose the founder of Digg has directly denied the truth behind this delicious rumour that is sweeping the blog world right now, but I still think there is some credibility to it. Clearly digg has redefined the way social bookmark/link s…

  19. 19 Microsiervos

    Rumor de la semana: Yahoo se dispone a comprar Digg

    No es la primera vez que se oye este rumor, pero Kevin Burton lo ve esta vez lo suficientemente claro como para hablar de que la operación sería por un importe de unos 30 millones de dólares y que podría…

  20. 20 MasterMaq's Blog

    Yahoo buying Digg?

    Yahoo keeps going further and further down the acquisition path lately - or at least generating rumors…

  21. 21 The Social Networking Weblog

    Digg+Yahoo! ???

    UP

  22. 22 The Social Networking Weblog

    Digg+Yahoo! ???

    UP

  23. 23 Ken Yarmosh

    Yahoo! and Digg - Sign of the Times or Big Rumor

    As you can well see, I stay away from the rumor mill both here and at the Corante Web Hub. So when everyone got in on the Yahoo! buying Digg talk, I steered clear.
    I dont know what is up with the alleged deal at this point but I found somethin…



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