Digg, the social news website that was once considered a rising star of the web, has been sold for just $500,000.
| Do You Like this Article? Then Like Us on Facebook. |
Betaworks, a New York-based technology development company, bought the website but, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, does not plan to retain any of the staff.
Digg was founded in 2004 and was soon at the vanguard of the rising 'Web 2.0' trend for websites that allowed users to add their own content and interact with content from others. At its peak it was valued at as much as $160 million but its influence declined with the rise of Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.
The Wall Street Journal said that Digg had received higher offers but sold to Betaworks because it had "the best plan for reviving its brand". John Borthwick, the founder of Betaworks will take over as Digg's CEO.
"Over the last few months, we've considered many options of where Digg could go," said Matt Williams, Digg's current chief executive, "and frankly many of them could not live up to the reason Digg was invented in the first place - to discover the best stuff on the web. We wanted to find a way to take Digg back to its startup roots."
