Google does not Digg it, walks away from the deal

Written on 26th July 2008                                                                                                              4 COMMENTS
Joop Dorresteijn, East Asia correspondent

A dispiriting update about Google wanting to acquire Digg, the deal is off! The guys at Digg were about to close the deal and walk away with 200 million dollars. But for some reason, Google decided to walk away from the deal yesterday, leaving Digg to be the ugly bride nobody wants to have.

The acquisition had passed the term sheet stage and entered final negociations this week. During these non-binding negotiations, Google had closer research into Digg’s technology and financial statement, the teams from both parties might not cooperate as expected before.

Could Google have a strategy by walking away? Or is there something fishy to Digg’s financial status or technology? Perhaps it’s the fact that Google News already makes $100 million revenue per year, and does not need Digg. As Valleywag reports, Digg would be inconsequential for Google’s traffic. Either way, Interest of other parties might be questionable after the turndown by Google. I’d say: Just sell the site to the first buyer Jay, while you still can!