Remember when Digg.com was estimated by some analysts to be worth upwards of $200 million? Those days are long gone as New York incubator startup Betaworks announced on Thursday that it has purchased Digg for a measly $500,000.
Since launching in 2004 Digg has received more than $45 million in investor funds
On it’s blow Betaworks says Digg will fold into the News.me team. Betaworks also promises to “turn Digg back into a startup. Low budget, small team, fast cycles.”
Digg was once hailed as the future of the internet until Digg v4 was widely panned by critics and the sites most loyal users as a complete failure that confused some users and took away other favorite features used by devoted Diggers. After the release of V4 the website watched traffic plunge, lost much of its management structure and was forced to lay off half its staff.
By May 2012 the Washington Post Company’s Social Code had stolen half of Digg’s staff while other company’s began bidding on its remaining assets.
News of the sale was also made by Digg CEO Matt Williams who told the Digg community that Betaworks would still unveil a new cloud-based version of Digg that would work to complement News.me options.
Williams will move from Digg.com to join Andreessen Horowitz as an entrepreneur at Betaworks.
When all is said and done it appears that News.me was most interested in the remnants of talents left at Digg and more than likely the actual Digg name.
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