The owners B5Media is [thanks for the clarification, Jeremy] are selling The Blog Herald, which sets a new model for what successful blogs are worth:
[from Ensight - Jeremy Wright’s Personal Blog » The Mystery Blog]
Why did Duncan sell it? I’ll let him give the full reasons, but the biggest and best were that he was no longer enjoying writing it as much as he used to, and that there was a perceived conflict of interest with a blog that was in a blog network reporting on blog networks.
Duncan’s been considering this move for a while now, but could never get enough interest up with the people he was talking to to make it worth his while. I told him I’d help out, broker the deal and take some of the stress off his shoulders. It’s always hardest to sell something you care deeply about (I know, having been there), so we both felt having someone who wasn’t directly involved with it doing the selling would be best (ie: me).
The current high bids are 60K, 65K and 72K. The private auction will be ending today sometime, after which we’ll get down to the business of sorting out the transaction. Once that’s all done, we’ll be announcing the winner at whatever time works best for the winner. The current high bidders are all looking at the blog as a brand / profile investment more than a pure cash investment. After all, 36 times monthly revenues is a fairly high multiple for any site, even if it experiences 10% growth every month (as Blog Herald does) and could earn more. At 72K, it would likely take someone about a year to earn it back with a redesign and with the growth it’s experiencing.
Overall, this has been a great experience. Some really top companies (including a Fortune 500) inquired about the blog, and everyone was extremely professional. I’ve made some great connections that I’m hopeful I’ll have be able to work with in the future.
I think highly focused blogs, like TBH, will drive good value, even if the original authors step down. Still, I would have imagined that a blog that is ranked 183 on Technorati would have brought more than $60 or $70K.
As a note, TBH is privately owned by Duncan Riley, not by b5media. The vast majority of our blogs are owned by b5, but the founders each brought several blogs of their own into the company at the start. Blogs that they still own, and TBH is one of those.
Posted by: Jeremy Wright | January 16, 2006 at 12:56 PM
Further validates that the value of a blog is indirect, ie how much it allows you to gain through your other activities, doesn't it ?
Posted by: Jeff Clavier | January 16, 2006 at 02:52 PM