gnulaw (56.62)

"Google, Microsoft, said to be preparing bids for Digg" LNUX?

May 02, 2008 – Comments (2) | RELATED TICKERS: GKNT , GOOG , YHOO

"...User-generated news site 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.

And despite a number of false starts, this time a sale looks like it might actually happen, and soon. 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 - Google and Microsoft. And Google and Microsoft are on the verge of making their bids.

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.

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..." source: March 7, 2008 TechCrunch. Acquisition rumors by News Corp in Oct 2006 ref/ were at appx $150 Million.  Google's price is closer to $200 Million. SourceForge is currently sporting a market cap of $123.9M confirming Ali Jenab's inability to maximize LNUX shareholder value...(also see "Share buy back" Yahoo! Finance post).

digg blindsided incumbent slashdot at a game slashdot pioneered and continues to humiliate them given said takeover rumors, and digg's traffic stats (below).

So, digg.com is valued at $200 - $300M and Ali Jenab has driven LNUX's shareholder value to $123M for Slashdot.org + SourceForge.net + Linux.com.+ThinkGeek.com +...+ Accordingly, Ali Jenab's future and LNUX's rests on its earnings report at the end of this month, IMO. There is simply something very wrong with this picture...

Alexa Traffic Stats: Digg and SourceForge