Is Digg Really Worth Over $200 Million?
Once again, rumors are circulating that Digg.com is for sale and this time is looks like Microsoft and Google are the interested parties. What originally started out as a post on TechCrunch, has turned into a widespread rumor and everyone is waiting to see what happens. As posted on TechCrunch, Digg CEO Jay Adelson is calling this post “completely inaccurate.â€. Inaccurate or not, Digg users themselves are trying to do whatever is possible to stop an acquisition. What would the acquisition of Digg mean to Microsoft or Google… and would it really matter that much at all?
As bloggers and web site owners, we know and understand the power of being dugg. For the lucky few of us to have an article or page make it to their main page, you probably received thousands upon thousands of clicks. Whenever I hear about someone getting dugg, there is usually a follow up story about how crappy the traffic was and it just cost them a ton in bandwidth or brought their site down with it. Digg.com is making money, but Digg.com traffic also sucks. After searching Google for “Digg Traffic Sucks“, you will find thousands of sites complaining about how being dugg just brought them an onslaught of quick traffic, that really had no value.
Microsoft already has a massive three year advertising deal with Digg.com. With that deal in place, Microsoft won’t be as active to place a higher bid on the company. TechCrunch reports “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.”. Either way, should Digg be purchased, Microsoft would have the option to terminate their advertising deal.
The drama of Microsoft vs. Google continues. Will Microsoft successfully scoop up Yahoo and Digg? Is Digg really worth $200+ million?
Digg traffic doesn't suck, it's just a bit different. You can't have only CPA and CPC ads on the site because the Digg users won't click them. If you get dug, make sure you have a good server and a bunch of CPM ads.. perhaps even a popup.. and you'll make a bunch of money off of them.
30,000 visitors will bring at $2 CPM, $60 in income, and you sell your sole with popup advertising?
Like James said, Digg traffic is just different. When you submit one hot article that really takes off, Digg can be great 😉
So much iDrama eh? I think Mircosoft will kill Digg, IMO.
I *loathe* Digg. The vast majority of vocal Digg users are cynical losers who spend the majority of their time on the site either (a. snottily correcting peoples' grammar or (b. talking about how much they hate ads.
Digg traffic is a waste and Digg users deliver no value to advertisers whatsoever. Anyone who pays that amount for a userbase like that is a sucker. Take the money and run, Kevin!
It is an interesting question. I think Digg probably does well on certain sites, and is useless on many others. It wont change my life much, but those sites which regularly hit the front page are likely to miss it big time.
I kinda agree. Getting top in Digg is difficult. You must have a lot of friends to digg up for you or much traffic in your blog for that and plus a good worthy content.
The traffic does suck. Lol
How can traffic suck???
Just comes to the page and leaves. Doesn't signup or convert on any offers.
Zac its not always the same..
If the story is really interesting, then subscribers and comments increase.
Absolutely. John Chow hit the Digg homepage quite a lot of times and that boosted his subscribers amount. The visitors usually are waste if you are on the front page with some kind of image or video, they watch and leave. But if its great articles, worthy. They read, taking time and like your writing style and quality, they subscribe to read more of you.
No way is it worth over $200 million. Maybe $200k, but come on. What we have are number crunchers creating these bloated values of what a site or service value is perceived to be. Not, what the actual value is based on what it does.
Digg was cool when it first came out, but now it’s just filled with junk. The only thing Digg is good for is getting your site indexed in Google faster. I have never found one thing information wise on Digg that was awesome, earth shattering or even helped me do my job.
The traffic that Digg generates usually sucks. I get much higher conversions and better traffic from the search engines, PPC or even word of mouth.
As a Web developer, it would take all of maybe 40 hours to re-create the core service that Digg provides. If someone would like to pay me $1m, I can have the site up in about a week…
LOL. I love the comments you get. If it weren't for blogs like yours, I wouldn't be in the know. I do want to see what happens with the buyout.
I think digg is like anything else. It's only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Personally, if I had $200M buying digg wouldn't be at the top of my list.
There's no way digg is worth that much. That site has been reduced to nothing more than a hangout for conspiracy nuts and twelve year olds, and I can't see anybody paying money for that kind of userbase.
Digg is great for hammering a brand into people – it's done a lot for blu-ray, the iphone, Wii … and that's the true power of it. Whoever buys it, has to game it. With their own products and with various sponsor's products.
I think that's it's defitnitly worth it but not really for microsoft. Google has great idea's to make more money off of digg.com then microsoft does. getting dugg does work but not for all sites. Let's say you have a blog about celebrity and you find something new about some new celebrity you post it at digg and if you get dugg you will get alot of new subscribers
lol… is this a joke? I'm not sure if I would even pay $200 for digg… it's kind of a piece of shit.
The question of Digg's worth reminds me of a quote from the Wall Street: "the illusion has become real and the more real it becomes, the more they want it..capitalism at its finest".
The matter of 'worth' will always come down to supply & demand. Something is worth what somebody is willing to pay for it, simple as that. As for Digg traffic, I've never been Dugg myself so I can't really vcomment but even if the traffic 'sucked' it would still boost page views which makes your stats look better to advertisers.
$200 million…WOW! Way too much for DIGG…=/
-Mike
If I had $200 million, I'd buy it! 🙂 That could just be me wishing I had $200 million, though…
It'll be interesting to see what happens with it.
Valuation is a tricky factor to come up with accurately and tends to be more about perception and speculation than anything else. You could apply standard financial accounting principles to putting a value on a company and its assets, but that typically doesn't tell the whole story.
That being said…Digg is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
Yes. It is worth defintiely. Why because……..IT HAS TOO MUCH TRAFFIC…hahaha
digg traffic is stumble traffic but with a bunch of a*holes with too much online anonymity. a shallow buy but they do have tons of traffic. i agree with shane it can be used for branding, but that’s about it. the next myspace effect…
I find the "Dig " website real entertaining. I definitly believe it is worth the money it is such a great idea. Simple but great.
I know what ya mean. Digg isn't very fun to browse… When I've got my StumbleUpon toolbar installed and can keep stumbling, it really puts digg to shame!
Digg worth $200 Mill? In my opinion no, but it's definitely a very valuable social networking site. I personally prefer stumbleUpon over digg, but I've talked with people that have had tons of success with Digg. You've got to know how to "write an article that caters to Digg users…"