AOL to Buy Weblogs Inc.
A big blog acquisition. Calacanis sells amidst healthy growth.
AOL signed an agreement to purchase Jason Calacanis’ Weblogs Inc. Network (WIN), which owns dozens of blogs, including the tech-focused Engadget.
The deal comes after months of discussions between Calacanis and AOL, prior to which he was in talks with MSN, according to a ClickZ source familiar with the matter.
Founded exactly two years ago, WIN will be run as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Time Warner portal, the companies said. WIN runs a diverse range of blogs on topics ranging from cars to cancer, but the crown jewel of its holdings is the Engadget consumer technology blog, co-owned by author Peter Rojas. Engadget generates the lion’s share of WIN’s monthly impressions. The company claims to have 85 blogs and over 100 bloggers, but some of the network’s sites are rarely updated.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The venture-backed WIN has grown rapidly this year. Calacanis has publicly estimated annual revenues from Google AdSense are approaching $1 million.
AOL will integrate the WIN content with several of its channels, including personal finance, automotive, travel and games.
“This exciting and groundbreaking combination allows our audiences to be able to do a ‘deep-dive’ into a vast array of compelling topics that keep them interested and entertained on our network of properties, day after day,” said Jim Bankoff, AOL’s EVP of programming and products, in a statement.
