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News & Updates - Monday, July 26, 2004

In the News

Company update – Technorati

The beta stage seems to be behind us. Technorati has “opened the kimono” (as the VCs like to say) since we first profiled the company, providing more information about the service and the management team on a newly redesigned site. With the Democratic National Convention kicking-off later today –- and with all the corresponding hype about the presence of credential carrying bloggers -- Technorati has opportunistically sent CEO Dave Sifry to serve as its man on the ground in Boston.

Slate on the Block

Microsoft’s online publication, Slate, is for sale. Gawker did a fine job of breaking this story last week, scooping its much larger rivals in the mainstream press (we’ll leave editorializing about the powerful and disruptive capacity of blogs to others… snore). If you want the whole story, check out the NYT (reg. req) or The Washington Post (reg. req).

What can a:c add to this one? Our sources tell us to keep an eye on CNET as a dark-horse suitor. The company is in an acquisitive mood, buying up smaller competitors like it's 1999 as of late. A deal seems unlikely at this point (and, we believe, would ultimately not make sense), given the breadth of Slate's editorial coverage. The financial implications are also unsatisfying. CNET has had a hard enough time squeezing cash out of News.com, a property which at least ties in nicely to the rest of CNET's sites and provides CNET with editorial cred and visibility outside the navel-gazing realm of tech publishers.

Look for the Washington Post Company to make a more legitimate run at Slate. The MSNBC/Newsweek(owned by WaPo Co.)/Slate/MSN connection already exists -- the deal could be hammered out over a latte in Redmond.