Calacanis confirms AOL sale
We’ve all accepted that the Weblogs Inc., sale to AOL is true, but finally we’ve got the first confirmation of it straight from the horses mouth….well via the wife of one of the Weblogs Inc., team of bloggers, Jay Allen (different Jay to the SixApart Jay) from Blogging Baby, who has the details on the Zero Boss blog here.
Again, congrats to the Weblogs Inc., bloggers, I’d expect that this would be an exciting time!
UPDATE: now have it confirmed via email to The Blog Herald by Jason Calacanis who writes that “it’s a great day for citizen’s media!”. Got to agree with that one. Congrats again to Jason and the team.
Correction: my aplogies to Kim Voynar, Jay’s wife, I didn’t know this but the Allen household both write for Jason, Kim writing for Cinematical, no disrepect meant.
How is it a “great day for citizen’s media” when the most commercially successful example of it is swallowed up by a jaded mainstream media company desperate to get into advertising because its dial-up revenues are falling off a cliff?
Wouldn’t an alliance of Web 2.0 properties be a better direction for Citizen’s Media to go in?
Check out what Nick denton has to say about the deal here. I’m inclined to agree.
I suppose in my way of thinking that it assigns a monetary value to citizens media, and I think that this is a positive, even if I can see the arguments about selling out. Certainly its a big “we are doing the right thing” sort of statement when someone like AOL want in.
I agree with the naysayers.
It’s not that great for us commoners.
Big media, like big money, never can see the forest for the trees, but they have enough money to buy the whole damn country and cut down all the trees to park their cars and walk around asking why the hell anyone wanted to come here anyway.
Unless some big outfit has $20 million for me, THEN it’s a good thing.
It’s a great day for the network owners, at least. Not sure about the WIN writers or readers. The writers will have a new contract to sign and I’m sure it will be a much longer one. What’s that saying?
The big print giveth, the small print taketh away. Amen.