The terms of the deal were not disclosed, though it is believed
the sale price was a fraction of the reported $6.5 million that
Guardian paid for PaidContent and ContentNext when it acquired them
from founder Rafat Ali in 2008. Guardian News & Media, which
publishes the Guardian and Observer newspapers, will now take a
minority stake in GigaOM.
A GigaOM spokesperson said PaidContent will continue to publish
at PaidContent.org for now, but that the company hasn't yet decided
whether it will eventually be folded into GigaOM.com. The business
and editorial staff of ContentNext is expected to remain with the
company.
Both companies operate respected events businesses. GigaOM said
it attracts 4.5 million monthly unique users, while PaidContent and
the other ContentNext sites registered a little more than 700,000
uniques in January.
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CORRECTION:
The initial version of this article stated the Guardian reportedly
paid $30 million for PaidContent and ContentNext. The real price
was closer to $6.5 million.