Popular social media news site Mashable.com is reportedly mulling a sale to global news network CNN for up to $200m.
Scottish founder Pete Cashmore, who set up the technology news website as a teenager in 2005, is reportedly in talks with the Time Warner-owned firm, according to a report in Reuters.
Reuters blogger Felix Salmon, reporting from the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, said the sale could be announced as early as Tuesday in a deal worth more than $200m (£128m).
However, TechCrunch reports that Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore is denying the reports. If true, the deal would significantly bolster CNN’s reach into social media and blogging.
Mashable made its name covering social media and technology news, but has expanded its brief to cover business and entertainment. The firm has offices in New York and San Francisco, Mashable has more than 20 million unique monthly visitors. Its global syndication partners also include ABC News and Yahoo!.
Mashable has already secured tie-ups with a number of mainstream news sites, with CNN’s technology site carrying headlines from Mashable and a column penned by Cashmore.
The move could mark the latest trend for technology blogs selling to major media companies.
AOL spent $315m buying the Huffington Post in February 2011, and $25m on TechCrunch in 2010.
The rumored $200 million price tag would make it CNN’s biggest acquisition to date, by far surpassing the $20 million-$25 million purchase of iPad app-maker Zite last year.
Born in Banchory near Aberdeen, Cashmore founded Mashable after dropping out of college aged 19. He has said the internet appealed because it was “something I could do in bed and feel like I was achieving something”.
View the Reuters TV report below:
