You've got Weblogs!
October 6, 2005 4:53 AM Subscribe
AOL is buying Weblogs, Inc! Reuters and Paidcontent.org say it's for at least $25 million.
Those two belong together -- and I loathe 'em both. I was a little sketchy about Yahoo buying Flickr and now Upcoming, but I'm starting to think Yahoo gets it, that whoever is behind these acquisitions it's been making gets whatever 'it' a lot better than even Google does.
But I hate Weblogs Inc with a passion for helping to drive the monetarization and concomitant beshittification of weblogging, and TimeWarnerLOL can suck my balls. May they circle the digital bowl together before following pets.com forever down the pipes.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:22 AM on October 6, 2005
But I hate Weblogs Inc with a passion for helping to drive the monetarization and concomitant beshittification of weblogging, and TimeWarnerLOL can suck my balls. May they circle the digital bowl together before following pets.com forever down the pipes.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:22 AM on October 6, 2005
They're not buying revenue Matt, AOL seems to be buying "content." Sort of like Ted Turner buying the Atlanta Braves to fill CNN's broadcast schedule. You of all people should know that weblogs are the new Desperate Housewives - and way better since on the web the actors and writers pay YOU.
posted by three blind mice at 5:22 AM on October 6, 2005
posted by three blind mice at 5:22 AM on October 6, 2005
I like engadget and autoblog.
Although I really like musicthing and Arts and Letters daily.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 5:42 AM on October 6, 2005
Although I really like musicthing and Arts and Letters daily.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 5:42 AM on October 6, 2005
Well, $2M in Revenue and a price of $25M, gives them a Revenue per Share ratio of 12.5 and Time Warner has 9.2. Considering that Weblogs should grow a lot faster than TWX, I don't see this as a high price, quite the opposite. Maybe I am missing something...
posted by costas at 5:57 AM on October 6, 2005
posted by costas at 5:57 AM on October 6, 2005
Er, doh, I should have said P/E of 12.5... never mind.
posted by costas at 6:00 AM on October 6, 2005
posted by costas at 6:00 AM on October 6, 2005
Watch the market for new Weblog Network "Empires" suddenly go glut. It's already started.
posted by brownpau at 6:32 AM on October 6, 2005
posted by brownpau at 6:32 AM on October 6, 2005
Fascinating and yet disturbing at the same time. It definitely seems like a new bubble is forming. Should prove interesting in the next year or so...
posted by shoepal at 6:39 AM on October 6, 2005
posted by shoepal at 6:39 AM on October 6, 2005
stavros and three blind mice have it. AOL/TimeWarner have always seen themselves more as a content than technology company. As I mentioned to a friend the other day, I have no idea what AOL is selling these days. Their main products in the online service days were content and the means to access it. Once they were opened up to the internet at large, they suddenly had to contend with the content freely provided by a multitude of others, then broadband took away their technology offering.
AOL should just think of better ways to do what's left: shill for TimeWarner media properties.
posted by mikeh at 6:44 AM on October 6, 2005
AOL should just think of better ways to do what's left: shill for TimeWarner media properties.
posted by mikeh at 6:44 AM on October 6, 2005
Oooh, Denton's gotta be annoyed at that one?
posted by mandeville at 6:52 AM on October 6, 2005
posted by mandeville at 6:52 AM on October 6, 2005
I'm sure AOL won't fuck it up, just like they didn't fuck up Netscape.
posted by SweetJesus at 7:43 AM on October 6, 2005
posted by SweetJesus at 7:43 AM on October 6, 2005
The only Weblogs Inc. site I read daily or at all is Engadget. Gizmodo was great under Peter Rojas, Lev carried the torch well but Peter is well *the* gadget guy.
posted by riffola at 7:55 AM on October 6, 2005
posted by riffola at 7:55 AM on October 6, 2005
I note that this thread reveals some of the handwringing that inevitably occurs when publicly traded companies come up. Be it Google or Yahoo! or Microsoft or Apple or anybody with a ticker symbol; publicly traded companies are not your friends. Their purpose is making money. Period. If they please you, great, but if you aren't their core market you might well get boned. Google does not love you, gmail is not a gift from God. Yahoo! might "get it" in that they can make money but Flickr isn't your friend either, it might be a useful tool or a fun community but it will last for you until the winds of revenue shift away from whatever bit you like. Microsoft is no more evil than Apple. Jeez, people, these are businesses and you are their victims...er...customers.
posted by shagoth at 8:26 AM on October 6, 2005
posted by shagoth at 8:26 AM on October 6, 2005
Just out of curiousity, does Denton pay better? Why do the cool kids like and write for Denton and not Weblogs Inc? I assume it's some A-List Cabal / circlejerk.
posted by keswick at 8:40 AM on October 6, 2005
posted by keswick at 8:40 AM on October 6, 2005
What costas said -- this is a reasonable valuation. Business values aren't based on current earnings, they're based on future earnings potential. This page shows average price/earnings ratios by industry. Note especially the averages for Internet Information Providers (52.2) and Publishing - Newspapers (17.5).
There's been a flurry of blog-related purchases lately (Flickr, Upcoming) so it's not that surprising to hear that a blog company that actually makes money is getting snapped up.
posted by me3dia at 8:42 AM on October 6, 2005
There's been a flurry of blog-related purchases lately (Flickr, Upcoming) so it's not that surprising to hear that a blog company that actually makes money is getting snapped up.
posted by me3dia at 8:42 AM on October 6, 2005
who does the best sports blogs?
posted by specialk420 at 8:56 AM on October 6, 2005
posted by specialk420 at 8:56 AM on October 6, 2005
Gizmodo is way better written than Engadget. Peter Rojas is a douchebag.
posted by cillit bang at 9:26 AM on October 6, 2005
posted by cillit bang at 9:26 AM on October 6, 2005
Maybe, but Weblogs Inc. sites have comments. Oh wait, the cool kids don't like comments anymore.
posted by keswick at 9:32 AM on October 6, 2005
posted by keswick at 9:32 AM on October 6, 2005
Well, $2M in Revenue and a price of $25M, gives them a Revenue per Share ratio of 12.5 and Time Warner has 9.2.
...
Er, doh, I should have said P/E of 12.5... never mind.
Revenue isn't earnings. Revenue is (approximately) sales, while earnings is revenue less expenses. It's a price to sales of 12.5 - they are paying $12.50 for every $1 of top-line revenue, not bottom-line earnings (TWX has a P/S of 2.0, the S&P 500 as a whole has a P/S of 1.5 but I'd imagine they they probably trotted out comps for this like GOOG at 17, YHOO at 10ish, and EBAY at 14).
posted by milkrate at 10:01 AM on October 6, 2005
...
Er, doh, I should have said P/E of 12.5... never mind.
Revenue isn't earnings. Revenue is (approximately) sales, while earnings is revenue less expenses. It's a price to sales of 12.5 - they are paying $12.50 for every $1 of top-line revenue, not bottom-line earnings (TWX has a P/S of 2.0, the S&P 500 as a whole has a P/S of 1.5 but I'd imagine they they probably trotted out comps for this like GOOG at 17, YHOO at 10ish, and EBAY at 14).
posted by milkrate at 10:01 AM on October 6, 2005
Maybe, but Weblogs Inc. sites have comments. Oh wait, the cool kids don't like comments anymore.
Actually, the GawkerMedia sites have begun adding comments recently. I don't think it's universal yet, but it's happening, for some reason. Really, the quality of comments a lot of these high-traffic blogs get makes it virtually useless in most cases.
posted by kyleg at 12:06 PM on October 6, 2005
Do any large companies actually create anything anymore? Or do they just buy up smaller ones because they don't have people who can come up with good ideas?
posted by Todd Lokken at 12:08 PM on October 6, 2005
posted by Todd Lokken at 12:08 PM on October 6, 2005
Much easier to let someone else take the risk and just buy it once it's proven.
posted by me3dia at 12:28 PM on October 6, 2005
posted by me3dia at 12:28 PM on October 6, 2005
Todd: Are you talking about AOL buying Weblogs or Denton pimping "blogs?" Just so we're clear.
posted by keswick at 2:45 PM on October 6, 2005
posted by keswick at 2:45 PM on October 6, 2005
Great post analysing value per blog in the network. (via waxy)
posted by shoepal at 11:43 AM on October 7, 2005
posted by shoepal at 11:43 AM on October 7, 2005
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posted by mathowie at 5:10 AM on October 6, 2005