Business Insider loves to publish lists (because people like me love to read them). Especially this one, which details 20 blog buyouts that made their founders rich.
20. Politicshome – Sold for $1.3 million
19. GardenRant – Sold for $1.3 million
18. Arseblog – Sold for $5 million
17. World Hum – Sold for $6 million
16. The Consumerist – Sold for $7 million
15. Freakonomics – Sold for $8 million
14. Tree Hugger – Sold for $10 million
13. Celebrity baby blog – Sold for $10 million
12. Wonkette – Sold for $12 million
11. Deadline Hollywood – Sold for $14 million
10. Bankaholic.com – Sold for $15 million
9. Livejournal.com – Sold for $25 million
8. Weblogs.com – Sold for $25 million
7. Ars Technica – Sold for $25 million
6. Tatter and Company – Sold for $30 million
5. PaidContent – Sold for $30 million
4. TechCrunch – Sold for $30 million
3. Consumersearch – Sold for $33 million
2. Fotolog – Sold for $90 million
1. Ugo.com – Sold for $100 million
All told that’s $477.6 million dollars in blog wealth created in just a few years time.
The topical niches covered in the list include technology, gaming, photography, banking, entertainment, politics, the environment, sports, gardening and consumer advocacy. Business Insider also chose to add blogging platforms to the list.
Anyway, it’s no secret what one needs to do to create value in an online media property–you find the right niche and proceed to own it. I feel good about the marketing communications niche that we operate in, given that it’s an immense and extremely wealthy vertical. Of course, AdPulp doesn’t yet own this niche, but we’re working on it.