Under intense and consistent rumors of acquisition, the spotlight has been turned to Google and rumors emerging that might suggest that the internet search giant could buyout the social news website.
Google is rumored to be pushing to purchase Digg for a price lower than $200 million.
Google’s only news service, Google News, lacks the social interaction that Digg provides its members. Because of this downfall, Google makes little profit from their completely automated news listing service.
It is my belief that Google wishes to acquire Digg not to expand their userbase and host Digg themselves, but rather to obtain the algorithm and parameters Digg goes on to decide what stories are popular and which stories will become popular.
…we hear [Google’s Marissa] Mayer is pushing hard for an acquisition of Rose’s Digg, for a price below $200 million…A source familiar with the talks says Google and Digg reached an agreement last month; it’s not clear whether the offer was verbal or a formal termsheet. So why the delay? One possibility: Digg may have been exploring whether it could hire a rock-star CEO and raise more money.
Google’s decision could come soon, according to Kara Swisher.