AppId is over the quota
AOL’s tech blogs Engadget and TechCrunch have been rumored to be up for sale, as traffic is reportedly down across the company and Arianna Huffington wants to focus more on her own brand, The Huffington Post.
Sources say that AOL management has been thinking of a move for a while now, since about the beginning of this year. They are eager to find a buyer as soon as possible, though are recognizing this could take quite some time, considering the hefty $70-100 million price tag.
TechCrunch and Engadget are both recognizable names in the industry, but the departures of crucial staff and revenue generating team has hurt the revenue side of the business in the recent past. Along with that, their annual Disrupt conference has lost a significant number of sponsors, with a count of 30 this year compared to last year’s 80 sponsors.
The idea of Michael Arrington possibly trying again to take control over the site deemed possibly, but Pando Daily contacted Arrington, who said he “[doesn’t] know anything. No one tells me anything. I am not in the least bit interested [in buying back TechCrunch]. I was Team Pando all the way until Sarah Lacy fired me. That does not change my position on TechCrunch.”
TechCrunch on average receives 20 million hits per month and is one of the leading tech blogs, so there’s no doubt more potential buyers will start to surface. And as AOL rids themselves of brand-name sites, the more crucial Huffington and her blog become, which poses the question: will AOL ever become a media company?
(via New York Magazine via Pando Daily; photo via TechCrunch)
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