Someone needs to buy this purely for the branding, to create a new (and proper) Facebook competitor. Create something with multiple personas (so I can have a Work persona, Personal persona, Family persona, and Public persona), and do all the things right, that Facebook does wrong.
Off-topic, but it's always interesting to me to see how the big tech blogs (mashable, techcrunch, et al) can rewrite a story like this and grab the upvotes away from the original source, whether that be the publication that did the actual reporting or even a primary source like a company's blog.
I wonder if some HN users tend to reflexively upvote the mashable and techcrunch stories based on their domain?
I suspect with certain blogspammers that there's possibly some sort of voting in groups/vote rings going on.
Then again, some people probably have sites like Mashable and TechCrunch in their RSS feeds and jumped at the link-baity title and rushed to post it on HN.
At least $100M for a ridiculed brand based in LA with a heavy burn rate for demoralized staff and plummeting traffic figures plus they're a microsoft shop? What's not to like? I wonder what full yearly operation costs are all in. I find it hard to believe they'll be getting more than liquidation value + a rather modest premium for the brand & traffic.
The biggest asset is the database I would think. There is a lot of personal information in there that could be synthesized and extrapolated many ways--and also be used as-is.
I'm disappointed that MySpace isn't still holding on for its Music features. Facebook certainly hasn't offered anything to challenge it as a place where new bands can post songs and pictures.
I think when its all said and done, after parsing through the press release you will find that someone will acquire it for a $1. Either that or they will pay someone to take it off their hands.
Bottom line Rupert didn't understand what he bought and practically every decision they made from the very beginning was wrong.
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[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 53.2 ms ] threadSo... rebuild from scratch then?
Off-topic, but it's always interesting to me to see how the big tech blogs (mashable, techcrunch, et al) can rewrite a story like this and grab the upvotes away from the original source, whether that be the publication that did the actual reporting or even a primary source like a company's blog.
I wonder if some HN users tend to reflexively upvote the mashable and techcrunch stories based on their domain?
Then again, some people probably have sites like Mashable and TechCrunch in their RSS feeds and jumped at the link-baity title and rushed to post it on HN.
Bottom line Rupert didn't understand what he bought and practically every decision they made from the very beginning was wrong.