Betaworks, an IT Firm in the US has confirmed that they have purchased Digg for a hefty $500,000 and the deal has now been closed.
Digg has been existing for about seven years, and now, the company is moving on. Betaworks, which owns a lot of IT firms int he US has announced that they are buying out Digg for an amount more than $500,000. Talking about this move, Digg’s CEO, Matt Williams says:
We couldn’t be happier to announce that the next generation of Digg will live on with the team from Betaworks. Betaworks is combining Digg with News.me, a Betaworks company with an iPad app, iPhone app and daily email that delivers the best stories shared by your friends on Facebook and Twitter. Digg will join a portfolio of products developed by Betaworks designed to improve the way people find and talk about the news. Betaworks founder John Borthwick will be the CEO of the new Digg.
If you are wondering what would happen to Digg now, Betaworks reveals that they would be integrated into News.me, which already delivers some interactive news content for the users.
Digg has made some amazing work in raising more than $45 million in investors. But the company started its descent from its top tier website status after it underwent a redesign, back in August 2010. Digg still has about 4.5 to 7 million unique users every month, and the company also had a major blow when its CEO, Kevin Rose moved away to pursue his own startup.
But Betaworks is looking forward to expand Digg into something else. Here’s what Betaworks has to say about this acquisition:
We are turning Digg back into a startup. Low budget, small team, fast cycles.
How? We have spent the last 18 months building News.me as a mobile-first social news experience. The News.me team will take Digg back to its essence: the best place to find, read and share the stories the internet is talking about. Right now.
We are going to build Digg for 2012. More to come…
While the price has been speculated to be $500K, Digg has confirmed that they were bought for more than the $500K mark. Digg was a huge community that people loved, but some not-so-popular redesign and introduction of ads into the system has given rise to its fall. Betaworks Founder, John Borthwick will now take the CEO position at Digg. Digg had its day, but its a not-good feeling to see it fall!