Rumor Mill: CNN in Talks to Buy Mashable:

futurejournalismproject:

Word on the street at SXSW is that CNN might buy Mashable for $200 million.

Via the Next Web:

Well, well, well. A ‘little bird’ apparently informed Reuters reporter Felix Salmon that CNN is buying Mashable, a blog that covers social media-related news, a lot of lists about anything from the funniest cat videos of the day to the most pinteresting Pinterest pinboard of the hour and whatnot, often with the CAPS Lock key turned on for the headlines, for “upwards of $200 million”.

According to Salmon, who isn’t known to throw around this type of rumor unless it came from a solid source, the deal is poised to be announced on Tuesday.

The New York Times chimes in as well but doesn’t put a price tag on the potential acquisition.

Mashable, which specializes in stories about technology and social media, could bolster CNN.com, which is one of the most popular news Web sites in the United States. An acquisition of Mashable would make a statement about CNN’s interest in startups and social media…

…Mashable, which is seven years old and is privately held, would be CNN.com’s largest acquisition to date. Last fall, CNN.com acquired Zite, a company that made an iPad app that determines what its users want to read and view, for a price that was estimated to be between $20 million and $25 million. Mashable would cost CNN far more to acquire.

Salmon’s video interview discussing the rumor is here.