Rafat Ali’s PaidContent Acquired

by Ken Schachter on 11 July 2008, 11:51

Categories: Archives - General news - Media - Internet - Finance
Topics: Rafat Ali , ContentNext , PaidContent , Alan Patricof , Greycroft Partners , Guardian , Observer

 
Rafat Ali’s ContentNext, the parent of PaidContent and other tech web sites, has been acquired by British publisher Guardian News & Media, the companies said Friday.

Though terms of the deal were not released, Dow Jones’ All Things Digital web site put the price at about $30 million, which includes a payout based on financial yard sticks.

ContentNext, which competes against web sites like TechCrunch and CNET, is backed by Greycroft Partners, whose Alan Patricof sat on the board of directors.

In addition to PaidContent, 6-year-old ContentNext runs mocoNews, contentSutra and PaidContent:UK.

The deal gives Guardian News & Media a foothold in North America about nine months after it launched Guardian America, a news site designed to appeal to American tastes. Guardian News and Media publishes the Guardian and the Observer, a Sunday newspaper founded in 1791.

“We were planning another round of funding and were not out shopping the company but when Guardian approached us, all the pegs fit into the right holes: a company that will help us scale, add to our existing portfolio of products, and most importantly, help keep "Our Essence of Being" intact,” Mr. Ali said in a statement announcing the deal.