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Technorati About to Be Sold

Here's a tip I was given this morning from a venture capitalist who is "heavily invested" in the blogosphere: Technorati is about to be sold to a large search engine company. The deal should go down in about a week.

My bet is on Yahoo! Where's yours?

technorati

Categories: Blogging and Moblogging

BL Ochman | Aug 11 05 12:48 | TrackBack (39)

Comments

Yahoo! just plunked down $1 billion in cash for a stake in Alibaba.com, China's biggest online retailer, to catch up with EBay. Dunno if they're so flush with cash that they're on a buying spree.

I think it's Google. They've been much more blog-centric over the past few years and it would compliment their purchase of Blogger nicely.

Posted by: Kevin Dugan at August 11, 2005 5:00 PM

David Sifry was in the blog space long before most other companies. I hope he does get a billion dollars. Like I've said before, it's 1999 again.

Posted by: BL Ochman at August 11, 2005 5:56 PM

My first guess would be Google as well, and I just posted the same. There is a part of me, though, that could see MSN or Yahoo! making the purchase as a sleight of hand to Google.

If it is Google, do you think that MSN or Yahoo! would parry with the purchase of IceRocket/BlogScour or PubSub? Or would Mark Cuban even be willing to sell the former?

Posted by: Brandon Satrom at August 11, 2005 7:38 PM

I'm sure it's Google. They have a huge acquisition budget and they need to win with RSS search. I just hope whoever buys Technorati, doesn't ruin it.

Posted by: Search Gal at August 12, 2005 2:22 AM

Jeremy Wagstaff is reporting that News Corp are about to buy a controlling interest in a search engine - could it be that News Corp are about to buy Technorati?

See http://www.tomrafteryit.net/news-corp-to-buy-technorati/ for more

Posted by: Tom Raftery at August 12, 2005 5:57 AM

With Bloglines promising "world-class blog search" by "this summer", Google will have to acquire a large, specialized index to compete. The synergy is perfect. Google like the mojo, Technorati retains loyalty. It's a match made in blogging Heaven.

Posted by: John Evans (SYNTAGMA) at August 12, 2005 7:01 AM

Dave Sifry and Google's open source guy Chris DiBona go way back.

Do the math.

Posted by: Ed Rusch at August 12, 2005 8:50 AM

The ironic thing is that I was listening to the Gillmor Gang on the way to work this morning and they were discussing this very subject a month ago.

http://gillmorgang.podshow.com/?p=10

Posted by: Michael Pate at August 12, 2005 8:53 AM

What about someone like AltaVista? Since they almost diappeared from sight, a purchase like this may be seen as a resurgence for them.

I remember the days when av.com was all i used.

Posted by: Steven Livingstone at August 12, 2005 9:06 AM

I tend towards Yahoo as well. They seem to be very agressive at the moment. I am disappointed with some of the technocrati searches however...it doesn't find as much as I thought, especially in other languages.

Posted by: Jonathan Marks at August 12, 2005 10:56 AM

My guess it's MSN. Ballmer was quoted 2 week ago saying they have $1 or 2B (can't remember exactly) allocated for snatching up companies in FY06.

MSN is moving very agressively in the Blog/RSS arena.

Matt

Posted by: Matt VB at August 12, 2005 11:39 AM

Come on, Cuban would sell icerocket in a New York minute.

Posted by: wag at August 12, 2005 11:45 AM

My bet is News Corp. They have shown an interest in fringe content (acquisition of Intermix) as well as the intent to get into the search market. Murdoch on their last quarter earnings call (wed 8/10) said he wanted to buy a "wonderful search engine." Lets not forget the tagline for the most visited blog... 'A directory of Wonderful Things.' Boing Boing Murdoch

Posted by: Boschetti at August 12, 2005 11:54 AM

hey, i'd sell what's next blog for the right price too. :>)

Posted by: BL Ochman at August 12, 2005 12:28 PM

I have to say it's likely not Yahoo - yep, going to go out on a limb for that one, but they did recently buy blo.gs. I bet on Google.

Technorati needs to sell, though, because it cannot sustain its current growth. With all the recent negative buzz - PubSub and Blogpulse are better, Technorati doesn't work, Technorati tagging doesn't pick up stuff - Technorati needs an influx to help them keep their edge.

Just my .02.

Posted by: Jeremy Pepper at August 12, 2005 12:53 PM

Here is what I said in a comment on BusinessWeek's blog on July 9, 2005:

"I just don't see how Technorati could keep a hold on blog search. What they do is purely technical... and easy to replicate by Google and Yahoo. What's more... the effects of G/Y's entry into blog search would be felt literally overnight. I am not aware of anything in the business model of Technorati that may offer any kind of resistance. May be I don't know something that the venture capital folks backing Technorati know... But, as I see it, if they haven't already arranged the sale of Technorati to ???... it might be too late now."

How would I fill in for the question marks now: IAC... just trying to be different... :)

Posted by: Emil Sotirov at August 12, 2005 1:00 PM

Google. Yahoo! recently bought Blo.gs.

Posted by: Joel at August 12, 2005 1:22 PM

I hope that whoever buys it spends a little cash upgrading the servers. I'd say I can do a successful Technorati search maybe 40% of the time. Most of the time, it's too busy to handle the request.

Posted by: shane at August 12, 2005 1:27 PM

Is sure hope it's Google, because (as a poster up a few says) Technorati needs an influx of money, technical know-how, and sheer, mind-boggling scale ASAP.

Posted by: John Koetsier at August 12, 2005 1:37 PM

It seems to me that since Google has taken the attitude of creating buzz, creating killer web apps, and buying companies like mad, that Technorati is a good choice for them.

I think they would do an excellent job brining Technorati to the next level.

Posted by: Rob Walling at August 12, 2005 3:31 PM

I seriously hope this is for Yahoo! They've never made a bad move. We know they acquired Bl.gs, we know they're developping they RSS Directory.
I believe MS will be developping their own tool for MSN as they always do
Ask Jeeves already got Bloglines.

I want Yahoo to acquire Technorati sooo bad!!

Posted by: guillaume at August 12, 2005 5:28 PM

I don't think it would be wise for Google. What would they gain from it?

They don't need the pull of the brand (Google is by far a bigger brand). They don't need the algorithm or code (Google can use their expertise, plus what Technorati has done isn't hard to replicate). And these two are probably all Technorati have.

If Google is buying it, they'd be overpaying. It's better for a smaller player, or for a lesser brand. Google? nope.

Posted by: saleh at August 12, 2005 8:18 PM

Technorati is in real trouble. It has already had its clock cleaned by Bloglines. C'mon, guys - a full minute to perform a search and it still misses half the blogs. It's lousy software that could never scale.

Posted by: pb at August 12, 2005 8:29 PM

I am going out on a limb and saying it will be InterActive, who acquired Ask Jeeves. Google's track record has been to acquire relatively unknown companies like Picassa. While, Yahoo has been introducing their own version of Blog Search.

I'd say it is either InterActive or MSN.

Posted by: mc1 at August 12, 2005 9:23 PM

I think its going to be Google. Because, nowdays every one is talking about the Google Sandbox and Google badly needs the real-time search facility of Technorati.

Posted by: Sudar at August 13, 2005 1:40 AM

I bet on Google...they got Plenty of Cash saved up..thanks to Adwords.

Posted by: College Student at August 13, 2005 5:38 PM

Posted by: Agua at August 15, 2005 12:11 PM

Everyone seems to be betting on Google or Yahoo.. so I am vouching for Sify, the biggest Indian portal ;-)

Posted by: Ram at August 15, 2005 7:38 PM

It's Google. Come on!

Posted by: Jay Brewer at August 15, 2005 10:28 PM

It won't be either Google or Yahoo, nor Microsoft or Interactive. News Ltd is a buyer, so it could be them, but the search engines don't need anything Technorati can offer them. (Altavista is owned by Yahoo, for whoever suggested that one).

Don't believe the hype that Google can't search blogs. Have a look at some of the search engine indexing speed studies - On average Google picks pages up quicker than Technorati does.

Posted by: None at August 16, 2005 2:13 AM

I wouldn't buy it for a penny. Google or Yahoo could replicate it in about 3 months and make it 100x better. I doubt anyone has much loyalty to Technorati.

If I were maybe Ask Jeeves, or another second tier player, I would think about it, because the price can't be THAT high.

Posted by: Ted at August 16, 2005 2:48 AM

I noticed a few comments along the lines of "I hope they don't ruin it." Here and elsewhere. I don't care who buys them (at this point this is all just rumor anyway), what I care about is when is someone going to fix it?

Posted by: Douglas Clifton at August 17, 2005 12:55 AM

Yahoo is the only major search engine other than MSN Search that doesn't have a blog search feature anyone knows about. Well, Google is working on blog search but they have their own intelligence on blogs and how to rank them since they own blogger, buying technorati just doesn't fit in Google's plan. My money is on Yahoo.

~jason

Posted by: Jason Dowdell at August 17, 2005 1:50 PM

It's not going to be Google.

Posted by: Nathan Lanier at August 19, 2005 7:19 PM

Ok, everyone was wrong. It's September and Technorati hasn't been bought by anyone.

Back to work, people.

Posted by: Adam at September 3, 2005 12:08 AM

It's either going to be NewsCorp or InterActive. I think its the former, not the latter given Rup's recent comments.

Posted by: Shelton Bumgarner at September 3, 2005 11:11 AM

I am hearing that Ericsson is currently in acquisition talks with Airspan Networks (AIRN). Should result in a 3x or 4x gain.

Posted by: Craig Hagan at November 8, 2005 1:57 AM

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About BL Ochman

Blogger, social media strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies, and sought-after corporate speaker B.L. Ochman heads the creative team of whatsnextonline.com. She also publishes the Ethics Crisis blog for SRF Global Translations

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