Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

AOL Close to Buying TechCrunch

gigaom.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 88 posts

Re: AOL Close to Buying TechCrunch

#61

Post by davidu »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #55
davidu wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aaron -- MG is one of the few TC writers who editorializes pretty liberally in his posts. I appreciate that as it makes it more interesting and it doesn't bother me as I happen to agree with most of what he says. To editorialize successfully requires you to have a strong grasp of the industry, the market forces and what direction it's moving in -- all of which I think he does quite well, along the likes of MA or Om M…

David - I feel he has a weak grasp on many fundamentals of modern technology[1]. His grammar and spelling are the subject of widespread mockery[2]. I must respectfully disagree with your conclusion that he has a strong grasp of the industry, market forces, or direction. I have a good deal of respect for both Arrington and Malik, and I cannot say I have one iota of the same for Siegler. He is a writer, and he is paid…

In regards to the poor grammar -- I've no doubt they prioritize posting speed in exchange for a more liberal writing style policy.

In regards to his grasp of tech -- I see nothing offensive about your example. He says it's probably a bug, and it was. I think his ability to grasp the implications of tech is pretty solid.

Apparently we disagree, and perhaps I even hold the contrarian viewpoint in this community. At least you can cite your criticisms which is more than I expected. :-)

Re: AOL Close to Buying TechCrunch

#62

Post by riffer »

qq66 wrote: post #59
staunch wrote: post #7

"I moved my primary residence from Silicon Valley to Seattle" Hmm, that's very specific wording there. In my world, filled with tax advisors and lawyers, this translates to "I'm trying to avoid paying California state income tax on capital gains I will accrue in the near future." -- master's prediction http://news.ycombinator.net/item?id=1314487

Wouldn't he have to be living in WA for a year for that to take effect?

State income taxes are generally pro-rated on the number of days in the calendar year.

The only place I've really seen the one year clock is just as something universities made up to keep their tuition price discrimination effective.

Re: AOL Close to Buying TechCrunch

#63

Post by petenixey »

Zakuzaa wrote: post #51

My guess: $50 Million What do you say?

I would suspect much higher than that. TC was rumoured to be making over $10m a year even 4 years ago before their conferences and Crunch Gear etc. It's a solid blog network and still growing in influence and mediums (TCTV, Disrupt etc).

Given how much stick MA gave entrepreneurs for not swinging for the fences in the angelgate panel this morning I would guess over $100m.

Re: AOL Close to Buying TechCrunch

#64

Post by aresant »

More interesting tidbits on this:

- "A source close to the negotiations tells us AOL has tried to buy TechCrunch twice in the blog's five year history"

- AOL didn't execute purchase price @ $30m in 2009 because TechCrunch didn't fully own it's conference biz, that it's since seperate from Calacanis.

VIA -

http://www.businessinsider.com/aol-tried-to-buy-techcrunch-t...

Re: AOL Close to Buying TechCrunch

#65

Post by jacquesm »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #19
swombat wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dubious. I imagine you could give Steve Jobs $100 trillion and he still wouldn't sell Apple. What would he do with his life? Buy Apple back?

Why does a price have to be monetary in nature? I'm sure that, were it entirely up to Steve, there is something that would make him sell Apple.

I used to agree with you, but ever since Jobs' battle to stay alive and still not handing the reins over to someone else and enjoy the rest of his days spending his dough I find myself agreeing with the GP, it is very well possible that Apple is the thing that Jobs enjoys doing the most in the world, and that he really wouldn't give up his role there and his stock in return for any amount of money.

Those that have stood with one leg in the grave are usually pretty aware of the time they spend and how they spend it, I don't see Jobs letting up at all.

Re: AOL Close to Buying TechCrunch

#67

Post by aaronbrethorst »

inmygarage wrote: post #58
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO, the quality of MG Siegler's writing is barely a step up from content farms.

MG is one of the very few tech writers with both intellect, style, and sass, and it's this type of writing that differentiates TC from some tech-content-wasteland. He has a voice and a following, though maybe that following doesn't reside here on HN. Saying that MG's writing is barely a step-up from content farms is like saying The Wire is barely a step-up from Cops.

David Simon's work has won Edgars, Peabodys, and more, and has been nominated for Emmys, WGAs and many other awards I'm not able to look up right now. Has MG even won a Webby? I'd love to see MG produce better content. I read TC just like everyone else, and having less but better content would be a huge step forward to my mind.

Edit: a journo friend of mine happened to mention to me that Simon is also the recipient of a MacArthur Genius Award, fwiw.

Re: AOL Close to Buying TechCrunch

#68

Post by [deleted] »

riffer wrote: post #62
qq66 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't he have to be living in WA for a year for that to take effect?

State income taxes are generally pro-rated on the number of days in the calendar year. The only place I've really seen the one year clock is just as something universities made up to keep their tuition price discrimination effective.

[deleted]

Re: AOL Close to Buying TechCrunch

#69

Post by jonpaul »

melvinram wrote: post #9
swombat wrote: post #5

Going out on a very frail limb here, but it seems to me that MA wants to build a (small, but "his") empire, not just make money. In that context it makes no sense for him to sell TechCrunch. That said, stranger things have happened...

Every business is for sale at the right price :)

I don't know about that... consider Facebook's billion+ dollar offers. Zuckerberg has turned them down. He's stated many of times that's he not in it for the money. Once you reach a certain level of money, e.g. 10 million or so, much more won't be as life changing.

So I disagree. Not all businesses are for sale at the 'right' price. What are other's thoughts?

Re: AOL Close to Buying TechCrunch

#70

Post by macrael »

staunch wrote: post #7

"I moved my primary residence from Silicon Valley to Seattle" Hmm, that's very specific wording there. In my world, filled with tax advisors and lawyers, this translates to "I'm trying to avoid paying California state income tax on capital gains I will accrue in the near future." -- master's prediction http://news.ycombinator.net/item?id=1314487

Is this guy phishing? Why the link to hn.NET? Is that a sanctioned mirror? Why would I need to login again?

Likely an honest mistake, but what is news.ycombinator.net anyway?

Post reply on HN