blogging for dollars, bloggers, cnet, michael arrington, nick denton, paidcontent, rafat ali...

Valleywag seeking $10 million among VC blog feeding frenzy

What is Michael Arrington smoking? His self-indulgent fantasy: All the bloggers should band together into a "dream team," owning equity in the joint venture. "Someone needs to pony up a big round of financing around an existing blog, or perhaps a new entity, and then start rolling them up into a big fat CNET crushing $200 million/year in revenue business," he writes. That existing blog he has in mind is obviously TechCrunch, though he never comes out and says it. What pushed him into this delusion? A rumor that Silicon Alley Insider is raising a $3 million to $5 million round and that PaidContent is also seeking more financing, a charge founder Rafat Ali doesn't exactly deny. Arrington doesn't want his competitors to raise money, because that will screw his ambitions for a big blog rollup.

For the record, Valleywag is seeking to raise $10 million. What? For an equity stake in this blog? Are you an idiot? Nick Denton doesn't toss around shares like that Craig Newmark twit. We're hoping someone will just give us the goddamn money and go away.

11:51 AM on Wed Mar 19 2008
By Owen Thomas
1,670 views
14 comments

Comments

DaveMcClure500Hats at 12:10 PM on 03/19/08
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I'm I'm for ten... ten dollars, that is. that gets me what ... 10%?
Zoo at 12:45 PM on 03/19/08
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What if Julia Allison, Meghan and Mary started a blog.. that be worth atleast $15 bucks and rusty trombone right? We could call it the "Keep Dreaming Team"...
SandHillSnobbery at 12:54 PM on 03/19/08
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This would be great. All the bloggers would finally have the opportunity to see what it is like to run a real business - with, you know, investors, earnings reports, and yes - facts! Rumor bloggers unite! After it fails, you can start blogging again.
macbeach at 01:37 PM on 03/19/08
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Well I've already raised $10 million for my blog, but for a variety of technical reasons that I'm not at liberty to divulge I cannot get at these funds.

I'd be willing to cut someone in for a substantial percentage if they could help me out.
michaellamb at 01:42 PM on 03/19/08
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love it that you keep using that image... like the john battelle middle finger and the ape crouch of marc benoiff, never gets old.
Alaska Miller at 02:31 PM on 03/19/08
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i write blog posts in my moleskine. how much is that worth?
FlakJack at 02:57 PM on 03/19/08
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I'd follow Denton straight into the sun, but not without equity. Sweet, sweet equity. And scotch.
Blackjack at 03:08 PM on 03/19/08
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@Alaska Miller: Dunno, how much money do you leave in the little pocket in the back?
Fidel on the Roof at 03:51 PM on 03/19/08
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Raising 7 figures for a bunch of writers and adwords ads?
Dweezil at 03:54 PM on 03/19/08
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@Alaska Miller: Typical liberal upper class elitist using overpriced notebooks. Get a legal pad like the rest of us working folk.
dalejo at 04:18 PM on 03/19/08
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@macbeach: Is it because you decided to park that cash in Bear Sterns stock?
raincoaster at 08:07 PM on 03/19/08
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I'm totally suing. "just give us the goddamn money and go away" is my business plan, dammit!
ImmanuelCan at 11:14 PM on 03/21/08
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Hey I know. I'll give you $100 for .0.0000001% of VW and then you guys will all be "worth" more than the Facebook dude. You'll get on the Forbes list, and then there will be the 60 Minutes interview, and so on. Then your pageviews will go up without resorting to more soft-core.
VizionQuest at 04:36 PM on 04/01/08
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Perhaps he just worried about Valleywag's surge to dethrone TechCrunch:

[tomuse.com]

Keep up the great work!