Digg/coRank Acquisition Rumors False, But Digg White Label Business Might Be Coming

corank.pngA hot rumor early this week/ late last week had Digg in acquisition talks to acquire hosted social voting site provider coRank (coRank allows users to quickly create Digg-like sites in much the same way Ning allows people to create social networks).

No one asked coRank to see if the rumor was true, so I did. CEO Rogelio Bernal Andreo denies being in acquisition talks with Digg:

coRank is still a baby and we still have a lot of work to do. We’re exploring collaborations and partnerships, but not a full sale. So my official answer is that no, we have not previously talked to Digg

Rogelio told me that coRank approached Digg in May about a possible collaboration but were rebuffed. He suggests that Digg cloning would be a logical business for Digg. Digg was not adverse to the idea, he said, but they were not willing to partner.

As Digg looks for new avenues of growth, they may be inclined to help others build Digg-like sites by providing a white-label service. Today that business is grabbed by coRank, the open source Pligg, and others.

coRank has moved on from its original roots as a Digg-style site provider and now offers a range of varying sites, many of which don’t include Digg features. See our October write-up for their latest incarnation.