paidContent.org Acquired By Guardian News & Media

Rafat Ali and Co. have been acquired as part of the Guardian’s move onto the web and into the US media markets. Congratulations, Rafat. I know how hard you and your partners have worked.

[from ContentNext 2.0: Life With The Guardian Media Group]

We got scooped on the biggest story of our own company’s life. Such is our life. Almost six years after our company started with paidContent.org, we have been acquired by Guardian News & Media (GNM), the news media division of UK-headquartered Guardian Media Group (GMG). Guardian itself is owned by the Scott Trust.

GNM publishes UK national newspapers – the Guardian and the Observer – as well as the Guardian.co.uk and Media Guardian. We will be part of Guardian Professional group, which is the B2B media division for GNM, and runs targeted sites such the MediaGuardian, as well as online data businesses and conferences.

This starts the 2.0 phase of our company ContentNext Media: we will remain a stand-alone business under GNM. This also marks a major expansion of Guardian’s U.S. presence….it already runs the Guardian America website, focused on U.S. audiences. You can see all the formal details in the release below.

It will be interesting to watch the Guardian’s moves. They seem more savvy about the web than the many US media groups in some ways, and the enormous plunge in ad revenues here in the US (as much as 8% so far this year and headed for at least 10%, according to today’s New York Times) hasn’t been as precipitous in the UK… at least not yet. That may give them an opportunity to scoop properties like paidContent.org, while the US competitors are in freefall and strategic disarray.