The hot rumor flying around Twitter to the point of reaching Twitter Top Trend status is that CNN is in talks to buy Mashable for $200 Million. The word from Reuters blogger Felix Salmon is that the deal is to be announced Tuesday at SXSW, but CNN spokeswoman Christa Robinson, commenting on the Mashable reports said: “We do not engage in speculation about our business and we aren’t commenting on these reports.”
Salmom’s video:
The question on the minds of the flock today is: “Is Mashable worth $200 Million?” When I hear that question, I wonder to what degree some of that drive to ask it is borne of jealousy that Pete Cashmore’s company’s getting – or rumored to be getting – an offer in that price range.
My take is that a blog is worth whatever someone will pay for it. I am really hoping that it’s true, and CNN offers north of $200 million, because such a deal would continue to drive home my point that blogs are valuable, and hyperlocal blogs are not the way to go from a business standpoint.
My question is this: “Is Mashable worth more than TechCrunch?”
Remember, TechCrunch was purchased by AOL for something like $30 million, which shook up the blogging community at the time. But the truth is Mashable is not worth $200 million. Yes, it draws more traffic than TechCrunch, but not even by 50 percent – maybe 30 percent more on a good day. So a deal for something like $45 million would be reasonable.
Why CNN would allow itself to be associated with spending $200 million for Mashable is beyond me.
But guess what folks, in the middle of blogging that, a new report comes that it’s all not true, for now. That comes from Matt Burns at TechCrunch, who notes:
But that might not mean anything. Mike and Heather gave us TCers the same line up until Tim Armstrong showed up at Disrupt.
Also, Mashable’s Pete Cashmore has not put out a Twitter tweet officially blasting the rumor. So for now let’s just say, maybe.
Zennie Abraham | Zennie Abraham or “Zennie62” is the founder of Zennie62Media which consists of zennie62blog.com and a multimedia blog news aggregator and video network, and 78-blog network, with social media and content development services and consulting. Zennie is a pioneer video blogger, YouTube Partner, social media practitioner, game developer, and pundit. Note: news aggregator content does not reflect the personal views of Mr. Abraham.