Digg/coRank Acquisition Rumors False, But Digg White Label Business Might Be Coming
Duncan Riley
26 comments »
A 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.
WOW
Yea, it doesn’t seem likely that Digg would be in the market for what basically amounts to a white label. Even one as good as coRank.
My theory is that Digg is still trying to make its vie to become a mainstream news source, and before it finishes putting up the infrastructure for that little adventure things will be quiet on the acquisition front.
Hello TechCrunch, your CrunchBase is really fantastic. Intelligent people
Why are rumors of a Digg being an acquisition target (perceived) of any importance? I don’t see what the big deal is about either way nor how it changes any aspect of my life nor of those around me.
I don’t get this fascination about this non-news.
Jon
I don’t think there’s any value in Digg. It’s just a social network which fares well when you wanna sell advertising on it. Sure it has loads of traffic, but other than submitting news on their site - what other functions do they have?
I rather acquire something more useful than $100m Digg
In a previous article it seems like Digg wanted to be purchased, as an exit strategy.
I saw the blog headlines about a rumored $300 million Digg purchase floating around and didn’t bother to read them because I couldn’t imagine Digg selling right now.
Your CrunchBase is really coool!!!
Digg? Rank? White Label?
Sounds like you are talking about alcohol!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
Rumours are used in corporate business as feelers. To elicit a response to a proposition. It is also used to display business intention and good finences and business optimism.
http://tekno-world.blogspot.com
@Rajeev Yup, nail on head…
yep! it does sound like digg. I don’t digg will sell anytime soon.
what is the market for a white label digg engine ?
Digg is the only one which has the weight to expose open digging to the masses. Despite Pligg and a raft of others I guess the lesson here is that the darker the chocolate the sweeter the taste! (stolen from Hairspray)
Digg white label? Might as well. They could make some money instead of a thousand other clones popping up for free.
Speaking of white label, Clicky recently released a white label version of their web analytics package. More details here: http://getclicky.com/whitelabel/
As CEO of Famesource.com I would also like to deny being in acquisition talks with Digg. Although we have been described as a “Digg for Talent” ( http://mashable.com/2007/03/25/famesource/ )and we would be a great fit for acquisition by Digg, we are still a baby and have our team working hard to implement our growth strategy.
Allen Vartazarian, CEO
Famesource.com - Claim your fame!
http://www.famesource.com/splash.aspx?r=17
i knew it..they won’t sell digg..
I don’t think it would be a good move on their part. It would dilute their brand image and cheapen their site. That’s fine with me though, I switched to using http://www.tagsum.com a couple months back. better system, nicer people.
WHO KNEW
why is white label going to work when pligg didn’t?
doesn’t sound viable
I think we will see the opposite in a few weeks. Digg will be acquired not them acquiring someone else. http://www.crenk.com