Wellington blog scooped up by US company
CLAIRE ROGERS
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Wellington technology blog, ReadWriteWeb, consistently judged one of the world's most popular blogs, has been bought by San Francisco digital publishing company Say Media for an undisclosed sum.
Major US technology website TechCrunch, which itself was bought for US$25 million last year, is reporting the deal is worth US$5 million.
Run by Petone's Richard MacManus since it was started in 2003, ReadWriteWeb has a staff of just under 20, most of whom are based in the US.
ReadWriteWeb's team, including MacManus, will join Say Media.
MacManus said the site attracted about 5 million page views and 2.75 million unique visitors each month.
It had begun looking for a potential buyer a few months ago, as it needed more resource to grow, he said.
He planned to increase the blog's technology coverage, including of technology hardware. He would not comment on the sale price.
In a video on Say Media's website MacManus said it had built up an influential audience of technology enthusiasts and IT decision makers.
"[Say Media] are a great partner for us to take it to the next level. This gives us a platform to expand our editorial vision and the operational expertise to reach a wider audience."
SAY: Welcomes ReadWriteWeb from SAY Media on Vimeo.
Say Media is based in San Francisco and has offices across North America, Britain and Australia. It has many independent blogs and websites in its network, with a combined reach of more than 500 million people worldwide.
Say Media chief executive Matt Sanchez said it would expand the reach of the website, which would be redesigned to give advertisers a "much cleaner, high-impact way for them to reach that audience.
"The belief is that amazing content inside of a beautifully designed environment with high-impact advertising is the future and is what modern media is all about."
ReadWriteWeb is expected to "anchor" Say Media's technology channel, which reaches 75 million people each month, according to the statement on the ReadWriteWeb website.
The blog, which aims to provide thoughtful analysis of the latest web technology, targets a mostly US-based audience.
SAY also announced that former Business Insider editor Dan Frommer would join RWW's staff as Editor-at-Large, a position that would give him freedom to write for his own blog, SplatF, while also helping the RWW team.
"ReadWriteWeb covers the tech industry with a high level of integrity and intellectual curiosity," Frommer said in a statement. "I can't wait to add my voice to the site."
- Fairfax NZ with Reuters
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Wow, tall poppy syndrome is rearing its pathetic little head in the comments section I see. Well done ReadWriteWeb! As the founder of a fresh new Wellington tech startup this stuff is inspirational.
#1 Gary. Yes. When you sell your car for $5m. #2 Pat. Maybe he HAS taken it to its potential.
#1 Thinks he's been paid too much. #2 Thinks he's sold out too cheap. Both think they're right, and are ready to whinge to the world without really knowing a thing about it. Maybe Richard MacManus hasn't got it right - but I'd trust him over the average Stuff commenter.
Gees what's with the negative comments? A guy builds up a website in New Zealand that attracts millions of readers from around the world and gets rewarded for his hard work with $5M. I think this is great news and well deserved. I guess tall poppy syndrome and good old fashioned jealousy will be around forever.
Hey #5,
Ebay was in NZ but couldn't gain any traction. Trademe is supperior to eBay, but has the advantage of being focussed on a smaller community.
@ Webup (#6): Here's the thing; you could start a blog with rehashed news articles. If it were that easy you would make yourself US$5m.
But here's the other thing; it isn't and you won't.
There are hundreds of thousands of tech blogs, and very few gain a mass market. It's not because the others didn't 'get lucky', it's because some of them worked incredibly hard, took significant risks, and became respected sources of tech news.
Sorry Pat, ebay is miles behind TradeMe in terms of usability. If ebay tried launching over here TradeMe would eat them for breakfast.
Hey Garry,
Read Write Web is one of the more influential 'techblogs' it's more focused on real time web, something akin to Techcrunch.
Cool , I must start a blog which just rehashes news articles in the hope I get bought out too and can buy the latest bogan Holden with all the fancy lights and scoops all over it. Just call me Chincy Kev from now on.
Trademe is a rip of over a great american company - EBay. Hardly a great company! If NZ was not such a small market EBay would have been in here and ruined trademe. Why dont you think the Australian parent has not launched trademe in Australia if it is such a good business?
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Sadu #8 I hope your kidding! Trademe looks like it was created by a 4 year old with a crayon compared to Ebay. I was a big user of ebay in the UK while I lived there and then coming back and using Trademe was like some kind of sick prank.
Also their search and refining searches is horrible and their sellers fees have increased yet again trying to recoup the ridiculous amount of money they paid Morgan for his simplistic right time right place initiative.