más M&A

AOL to Buy Weblogs, Publisher
Of Engadget and Other Blogs

A WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE NEWS ROUNDUP
October 6, 2005 10:16 a.m.

America Online agreed to buy Weblogs Inc., the closely held publisher of Internet blogs focused on niche topics ranging from gadgets to cars.

AOL, Dulles, Va., is paying about $25 million for Weblogs, according to a person familiar with the transaction. The all-cash deal is expected to close next week.

Weblogs, Santa Monica, Calif., operates a network of 85 advertising-supported blogs put together by 100 freelance contributors. Its best known property is Engadget, a blog focused on consumer technology and gadgets. It also publishes a site for car buffs called Autoblog and Luxist, a luxury-lifestyle blog.

The company, co-founded in September 2003 by new media entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, stitched together a network of individual blogs in order to attract a large audience and stable of advertisers. The Weblogs network attracts more than 30 million monthly page views, AOL said.

"Weblogs has made great strides over the past two years building high-profile blogs. Yet, we realized that taking our network to the next level required a partner not only with a significant audience, but the advertising expertise to leverage it," said Mr. Calacanis in a prepared statement.