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Al Gore’s CurrentTV Offered $100 Million For Digg In 2006

techcrunch.com — Sarah Lacy ’s new book, Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0 (goes on sale on Thursday, pre-order here, get free autographed copy here) does a deep dive into the histories of a number of high profile web startups.

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  • floort, on 05/14/2008, -26/+131This is nuts. There is nothing of value at Digg except the names of a few million people. They shun original content and blacklist you if you post links to your own ideas or blogs. It is simply a convenience tool for accmlumating news stories and stealing comment traffic, which should go to the original publisher!

    OK. Digg me down now.
    • vinnyvenus, on 05/14/2008, -8/+47So basically you are trying to say is that Digg has anti-spam policy.
      • mlostracco, on 05/14/2008, -0/+10You wouldn't know it by looking at the Upcoming Stories section.
        • spammishking, on 05/14/2008, -1/+2True, but rarely do those stories make to the front page..(I wouldn't say never though...)
      • sergiodlopes, on 05/14/2008, -1/+4Humm... nice question.
        If I'm a blog owner and I post an interesting article on digg, is that spam? Of course "interesting" is subjective, but just because I do that it's already spam?
    • taradisiac, on 05/14/2008, -21/+10Also, admins handpick the front page stories.
      • Disease, on 05/14/2008, -3/+14From mrbabyman
      • Neoanarchist, on 05/14/2008, -5/+11Back up your claims and people might agree with you. Spouting some random claim gets you, and the gullible morons that believe "facts" posted without proof, nowhere. That is not to say you aren't right, but link to something or give some proof of some sort before you slander someone or something.
        • taradisiac, on 05/14/2008, -10/+5Isn't the blatant pro-liberal, pro-Obama, pro-Apple, pro-environment, anti-tazer propaganda here everyday proof enough? I know a vast portion of the users here aren't for that ***** (see the comments each time) and yet it always lands on the front page.
        • WhereAmI, on 05/14/2008, -0/+4Well the Ron Paul ***** excludes your claim, because those comments are crazy.
    • ginestony, on 05/14/2008, -8/+8this word: accmlumating, broke my spell checker :(
      • funkytaco, on 05/15/2008, -2/+5If only it had broken your nose instead.
    • TomPlansMedia, on 05/14/2008, -2/+11two words: advertising revenue
      • Appleologist, on 05/14/2008, -1/+4one word: capitalism
      • taradisiac, on 05/14/2008, -5/+1One world. Ad block.
        Also, who the ***** looks at adds?
        • ligyron, on 05/14/2008, -1/+4Enough people for it to be the driving force of MANY web sites
          • fkr3, on 05/14/2008, -1/+5Most of the internet even. And television. And newspapers. In fact just about everything.
          • taradisiac, on 05/14/2008, -2/+0I don't get why people even look at them.
      • SLockhart, on 05/14/2008, -7/+4But Digg doesn't have any advertising.
    • MOJIRA, on 05/17/2008, -1/+10It's the digg users that chose to bury and shun every blog article, because they're usually unoriginal and spammish. However, blog articles that offer original information or analysis are very often featured on the home page.
      • fkr3, on 05/14/2008, -0/+8Engadget and Gizmodo? The only original thing they've ever done was convince people their spam's worth reading before you get to the story they regurgitate.
    • centran, on 05/14/2008, -0/+3Isn't CurrentTV where the users pick what is played and they allow user content to be submitted?
      Maybe they where interested in the Digg code to expand or make their site easier.
      However, it sounds like Mr. Gore was planning a merging of the Digg and CurrentTV and that would take away creative control of Digg so they turned it down.
    • ralphthemagi, on 05/14/2008, -1/+4Digg is a "value add" to a larger corporation. That is where the value of Digg is. Potential ad revenue is only part of that equation.

      What Digg has is a lot of eyeballs coming to it's screen every day. Those eyeballs turn into dollars when monetized through advertising. But advertising alone will _never_ allow Digg to be able to create 100m+ in value. That sort of valuation stems from the fact that if a company like CurrentTV were to acquire Digg, they now have access to all those eyeballs and users, and there's any number of ways they can monetize that. Part of the valuation in this case may come from the expected number of crossover customers into whatever products or services the acquiring company may provide.

      The problem is that there are really only a handful of large companies for which Digg is a valuable acquisition, at least in the valuation range that Digg's investors are probably looking for.
      • WarBiscuit, on 05/14/2008, -0/+1In general, that's quite true... But you should look into what CurrentTV is all about...
        (in conception at least) it's a tv station run like a hybrid of YouTube & Digg...
        which would actual make sense for acquiring digg, in that they could have digg results
        affect what videos & information are presented on the channel, and vice versa.

        Listen to/Read some of Al Gore's speeches about why we need to decentralize
        our media, and you'll see he shares the concerns & motivations of a number of the social
        news sites, though it seems like his thinking is still slightly hidebound by the old "TV" model.

        In any case, unlike some corporate aquisitions, that one would actually make a good deal of
        sense, it'd basically create a "diggtv"... depending on who's creative direction becomes
        dominant after the merger. And as a previous commenter said, that's probably why this didn't happen.
    • floort, on 05/14/2008, -0/+6For someone to pay $200M for Digg, they would have to believe it could make them at least $1B. So do the math on CPM advertising for even 50M page views per month. Never gonna happen. O, and it is accumulating. Was typing too fast before. :) Don't get me wrong. I love Digg. I just don't think these social media sites are worth $200M.
      • sodade, on 05/14/2008, -0/+1Well, I sure as hell hope they are making big $ with those ***** annoying McD ads.
    • PlutoPrime, on 05/14/2008, -2/+1HHHHMmmmmmmm.... Eyeballs..... Taaaaaastyyyy [end homer voice]
  • rlray216, on 05/14/2008, -21/+16I disagree with the previous poster regarding this. (Respectfully, of course.) I think Digg adds a lot of value, and it's an amazingly thriving community. Honestly, Digg and StumbleUpon have made surfing the web fun again.
    • legoalert33, on 05/14/2008, -5/+26Use the damn reply button then.
      • rlray216, on 05/14/2008, -0/+6Sorry, my bad. I'll do that from now on.
    • cabdirazzaq, on 05/14/2008, -7/+2Where's the reply button? I can't find it on my keyboard. They should stop making these inadequate keyboards... and also, where's that tab I ordered! I hate the internets.
  • elebrio, on 05/14/2008, -1/+12Equating stumbleupon and digg is a little crazy imho. Stumbleupon sends traffic first and commenting is an after thought. In other words it helps build communities off site. Digg provides little benefit to the content publisher other than backlinks.
    • RudeTurnip, on 05/14/2008, -1/+8If it wasn't for sites like Digg and Fark, there is no way I would be exposed to so many different content publishers. Digg itself probably isn't worth $100 million as a standalone site, but, a more commercial venture could realize synergies (yes, I am using *that* word) by having access to its userbase. For example, it probably doesn't hurt Revision3 being so closely associated with Digg.
    • clickmyface, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1I agree with RudeTurnip. Digg is an amazing tool for perspectives. And Current offered 100 million, backed by Al Gore, a guy who champions for this type of thing, thats really a shame. Digg backed by one of our best political and social leaders, and digg turned it down? Thats really interesting.
  • googooly, on 05/14/2008, -6/+6how much does Digg worth this days anyways ?
    • ErikHarrison, on 05/14/2008, -1/+3umm what?
    • lordtyros, on 05/14/2008, -0/+28bout tree fiddy
      • SpectralSounds, on 05/14/2008, -1/+5Tree fiddy!? good lord thats a lot of money! How about I just get the tech section for fiddy cents.
    • fkr3, on 05/14/2008, -5/+364 trillion internet hypothetical dolllars and counting.

      I can't believe anyone would turn down a hundred million bucks. Stay on if you're that in love with the site, but ***** take the money.
    • apackofmonkeys, on 05/14/2008, -1/+02 bits
    • moolaismyfriend, on 05/14/2008, -6/+1http://www.dnscoop.com/

      The estimated value of http://digg.com is: $1,088,544,000

  • DrPaul2008, on 05/14/2008, -9/+8I wish Pirate Bay would start an equivalent type site. Digg must be irresistible to those who live & die with propaganda.
    • kingmanic, on 05/14/2008, -1/+24chan seems to be the equivalent to a 'pirate bay digg'.
  • ahhell, on 05/14/2008, -2/+19That book needs a longer title.
  • HMTKSteve, on 05/14/2008, -15/+13Judging by the Liberal nature of most comments on Digg It would seem he already owns Digg. Or at least pwns Digg!
    • DeepFriedFetus, on 05/14/2008, -3/+4I'll provide two words for you that proves he doesn't own (or pwn) digg: Ron Paul.
      • HMTKSteve, on 05/14/2008, -5/+3Ron Paul is a foil used by Democrats to annoy Republicans.
  • Henman, on 05/14/2008, -12/+55Good thing it didn't happen or else Gore would have spammed Digg with tons of Anti-Manbearpig stories.

    Super serial.
  • SkippyDoorknob, on 05/14/2008, -5/+7* pulls string on back *
    "You are hearing me talk."
    • culbeda, on 05/14/2008, -0/+2Who buries a classic reference like that?
  • Swift2, on 05/14/2008, -5/+12Once again, Al Gore reveals himself as someone who gets it on a very deep level. To "floort" -- you don't get it. If people were allowed to spam on digg, nobody would come here. What's valuable about digg? The people who come to digg. Yes, even the political fanatics.
    • blhack, on 05/14/2008, -1/+3the value in digg is the pageviews. A lot of people don't see them because of adblock, but digg has ads. Figure the super bowl gets (this number pulled out of my ass) 50 million viewers....what does a commercial cost on there?
      Digg gets 13 million every month..and those are UNIQUE pageviews. Each of those people are more than likely visitng the site multiple times, generating multiple ad impressions.

      Its ads. Digg is just one big billboard.
    • HMTKSteve, on 05/14/2008, -0/+3People Spam digg all the time. It's just that the sites that spam digg are liked by diggers.
  • PhattyPhattMatt, on 05/14/2008, -11/+7This one time, I read an article on the Internet saying that Al Gore invented the Internet...
  • roastedbagel, on 05/14/2008, -15/+7I had no idea Al Gore owns CurrentTV...I feel dirty for watching it now
    • Barackalypse, on 05/14/2008, -11/+1Wait, Al Gore owns a polluting endeavor? Hypocrite.
  • 919kwjc, on 05/14/2008, -14/+7What the hell is CurrenTV and who the hell is Al Gore?
    • Atomic1fire, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1Tv Station run by viewers
      Former vice president and National pretend econut
  • chrissku, on 05/14/2008, -9/+4Once Digg goes commercial I go somewhere else. Lets keep big business out of here. The user generated news minus the spam is what makes this site so special.
    • fkr3, on 05/14/2008, -1/+9Umm.... digg is commercial. It's actually a company with dozens of staff and stuff.

      http://digg.com/about
      • nymphetamine, on 05/14/2008, -0/+4...what kind of stuff?
        • fkr3, on 05/14/2008, -0/+4There was a dog in one of the photos of their offices a few weeks ago.... dogs are stuff right?
        • SkippyDoorknob, on 05/14/2008, -0/+4Paper clips. Lots and lots of paper clips.
    • TheGreatBelow, on 05/14/2008, -0/+4There actually are copious amounts of ads on digg, its just anyone with a brain browses with Adblock plus so you don't see the ads.
    • chroko, on 05/14/2008, -1/+1This page was brought to me by:

      * South West Airlines, introducing nonstop service from Denver on June 4th!
      * Canon imageAnywhere!
      * Advance Auto Parts, offering me $5 off, or free shipping on orders over $50.

      Digg is already commercial.
  • odiego, on 05/14/2008, -0/+21I would've cashed in and would be sitting in Aruba right about now.
    • digjam, on 05/14/2008, -5/+4and get kidnapped and raped!
    • kenvsryu, on 05/14/2008, -0/+2No one sane would pay that much now...or ever.
  • Marxalot, on 05/14/2008, -1/+3Seems a touch ironic to digg this story.
  • solarsavior, on 05/14/2008, -10/+3Al Gore matters how?
  • supremebeing18, on 05/14/2008, -9/+13Doesn't change the fact that Current is the best TV station out there right now.
    • jerrycurley, on 05/14/2008, -7/+1All 5 of its viewers agree wholeheartedly with you.
    • loganhuddleston, on 05/14/2008, -0/+7I agree. I think it is a great station. Very interesting and informative.
  • RedRaptor, on 05/14/2008, -11/+3See, he didn't buy it because he didn't NEED to. The Dems already own digg - look around. This is a place where you can be universally shunned and RAAAAGEEEED at for even suggesting you support the Republican party.

    Oh, wait, the rest of America is like that too.
    • dn11, on 05/14/2008, -0/+3i've got news for you, digg used to be WAY more liberal than it is now. that was the nature of it from the beginning, even before it had a political section it still had that slant. there is no conspiracy, that's just the way it is.
    • SpectralSounds, on 05/14/2008, -0/+5Are you suggesting that you support the Republican party?
      • Atomic1fire, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1Yes, lets all hate on Abraham Lincoln
        /flame-bait by using a popular president...
  • astronomical, on 05/14/2008, -4/+41Did Obama outbid him or what.
  • Barackalypse, on 05/14/2008, -1/+9I don't know which party was the dumber one in this deal. Digg for turning down $100 million, or Gore for offering it. The sad thing is Digg has all these people working for it that haven't really been adding any value (functionality wise) to the product over what it was when this offer was made. I mean hell, they could have sold out, pocketed how many million each, and still gotten to pretend they're cool on Diggnation every week.
    • kingmanic, on 05/14/2008, -2/+1It's not how much value you actually add to something but how much value others perceive that is important. A sport about beer bellied men in odd uniforms hitting a ball with a stick along some arcane rule set has no objective value but it seems to do very well in the states. Similarly while Digg itself may not objectively have value to you, it does have subjective value for those who visit (Someone else does the filtering of the internet for me, and I get external validation of my views or provoke a response... because really thats why you post, for a reaction or validation.) The community posting a comment is the value for most. We could all just book mark XKCD, but we want the opportunity to talk about it. We could all just watch zero punctuation but It's fun talking about it. etc...
  • cabdirazzaq, on 05/14/2008, -12/+4Why would someone who "created" the internet need to buy websites?
  • mediaspree, on 05/14/2008, -0/+11Currently testing comment system for my own $100 million project
  • grodrigu, on 05/14/2008, -1/+7Just keep the rights to DiggNation and sell the site.
  • JedicodeWarrior, on 05/14/2008, -1/+13"... Rose and Digg CEO Jay Adelson walked away due to issues of control going forward ..." for $100M they walked?? Wow! For that I would have sold and then bought myself an island and retired.
    • RudeTurnip, on 05/14/2008, -3/+6In other news, the Digg co-founders must be smoking some pretty awesome stuff.
      • JedicodeWarrior, on 05/14/2008, -0/+2That's where the $100M went.
  • kosser, on 05/14/2008, -8/+3yea I'm sure he wanted to buy this so he can spread his global warming propaganda all over the site... not like people don't do that right now anyways.
  • jerrycurley, on 05/14/2008, -6/+1Sorry, but I call ***** on this one. CurrentTV is not offering $100 million for anything. That would be like Yahoo trying to buy Microsoft instead of the other way around. CurrentTV doesn't have nearly that much money to spend on anything, let alone Digg.
  • digjam, on 05/14/2008, -0/+4only 100M??? thats all?
  • Vladek, on 05/14/2008, -2/+10I like digg as much as the next fellow, but this boat is not worth the $200M they were holding out for. Kevin, you should have take the $100M.
    • Drax0n, on 05/14/2008, -1/+2it was not about the extra 100m it was about them wanting to keep control of the site that had become so important to them.
      • Sidzilla, on 05/15/2008, -1/+2I sold a car I really liked but the guy wouldn't let me keep driving it afterwards. I really liked that car, too.
        • Zaeth, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1You cannot explain the Internet in terms of actual objects in real life. Two totally different realms.
    • clickmyface, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1I agree, and I don't imagine ever in a million years that it would have been a hostile takeover. I think everyone at Digg would have kept their jobs. This is really silly. 100 million is a lot of money, considering the only other people likely to have more cash and want to buy are News Corp and the like. Really a shame.


  • dagamer34, on 05/14/2008, -1/+11How many websites have enough viewers to cause web servers to regularly go down?

    THAT'S why Digg is worth a lot.
    • IEatHamburgers, on 05/14/2008, -0/+6Yep, it's a weapon of cyberterrorism. Kevin Rose gave George Bush an excuse to send a million nerds to Gitmo.
  • johoshua, on 05/14/2008, -16/+5ALGORE = FAIL
    ALGORE = FAG
  • crownedgriffin, on 05/14/2008, -5/+8CurrentTV is awesome, and Gore is pretty cool too, but I like Digg the way it is.
  • Spinfusor, on 05/14/2008, -6/+7I'm glad the offer was turned down.
    Current TV is a worthless piece of garbage with ***** shows and even ***** hosts.
    • mandarin, on 05/14/2008, -0/+1Half of the hosts are bad and some are pretty decent. The writer-editors are jerks though.
  • SLockhart, on 05/14/2008, -2/+5I just hope they don't start putting ads on Digg.
    • staffa, on 05/14/2008, -1/+3I can't tell if you are being sarcastic or if you are blocking the ads and are genuinely unaware of all the ads, or if you are not blocking the ads and are just really stupid.
      • SLockhart, on 05/14/2008, -3/+4lol. I adblock. I haven't seen an ad anywhere on the intertubes in months. By the way anyone know when GTA IV is coming out?
  • robthom, on 05/14/2008, -0/+1Thats good ***** cheese. Kevin woulda been set for life.
  • mban23, on 05/14/2008, -0/+3All you guys who say that Kevin should've taken $100 million dollars are wrong. At least with the part that includes Kevin. When they sell Digg, Kevin won't get that much money. He'll get just a fraction of the money. Most of the money will go to venture capitalists, who funded Digg with millions of dollars. Anyway, he'll have more money than most of us.
  • waluum, on 05/14/2008, -2/+7If Digg ever sells out to someone like Al Gore I will surely cancel my account.
  • HubbertWins, on 05/14/2008, -1/+1Not a bad idea
  • Fallout911, on 05/14/2008, -0/+1***** you all I like Digg.
  • judicar, on 05/14/2008, -2/+1I wouldn't give him a buffalo nickel for this useless website.

    That's a joke, it's not useless, but I still wouldn't give him a nickel for it.
  • MrESaulved, on 05/14/2008, -1/+1More lies.
  • PyrosMagus, on 05/14/2008, -5/+1what a joke 100 mil for this *****. besides it would just be one more reason digg would slant everything to the left.
    • Drax0n, on 05/14/2008, -0/+1Yet not only do you visit digg, you also post on digg yea you must really hate it.
  • cgruber, on 05/14/2008, -1/+1Damn Kevin you could of driven a car until 2015 for 100 mil. Ah well bikes are like cool in San Fran right?
  • sononame, on 05/14/2008, -0/+4Just in case you forgot who sarah lacy is, or that she IS plugging her new book, here's a link of her "interviewing skills"
    http://digg.com/tech_news/When_an_Interview_with_Z ...
  • mandarin, on 05/14/2008, -0/+3Knowing how Current works (all the way since they started) I sure hope Digg doesnt sell out to those guys. They're looking for a strong brand since Current sucks at that and hardly makes any money. Not to mention high paid execs who run the company but hardly does anything creative.
  • pablo0713, on 05/14/2008, -0/+3Current.tv sucks. Pretentious news with pretentious hosts. Fashionable news for a young, dumb & google obsessed generation. I really don't give a flying crap about what people are googling. I don't care about some lame idiots snow boarding trip in Aspen. Maybe I wouldn't care so much but freaking Time Warner replaced CBC World News with Current.tv. At least with CBC World News, I got real unfiltered news from Canada and lots of current issue news documentaries done by serious and seasoned journalists. What I got instead are metrosexuals jabbering on about nothing.
  • p51d007, on 05/14/2008, -0/+3He might as well on digg.......it has in the last couple of years become the new home of the democraticunderground/dailyKOS.
  • abstrusegoose, on 05/15/2008, -2/+2Remember a few years ago when Kevin was facing pressure to use his savings to buy a house and he was all like," f*ck that sh*t, I'm gonna use the money to start a little site called Digg"? His finacial decisions till now have been bold and risky but also very disciplined. By turning down $100 mil, Keven et al. must know something we don't.
  • jayscot, on 05/15/2008, -1/+3What would have been the point of that? Digg's already a left-wing dance party on steriods.
  • killq, on 05/15/2008, -1/+3Idiots should have sold. Current realistic estimates have it valued at 20-35 million $.
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