CNN to Pay $200 Million to Aqcuire Mashable
Rumor has it that CNN is planning to purchase the wildly popular news blog known as Mashable, according to a recent report from Reuters blogger Felix Salmon.
Salmon reported that "a little bird" informed him that CNN will announce this new deal on Tuesday.
The deal would work out well for Peter Cashmore, who founded the site in 2005. Mashable draws about 20 million unique visitors monthly.
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The New York Times also confirmed that talks had been going on between the news organization and the blog, but also stated that negotiations were not complete.
Cashmore launched Mashable from his home in Aberdeen, Scotland back in July of 2005.
The site specializes in social media news, but also covers hot topics in areas such as mobile, entertainment, online video, business, web development, technology, memes and gadgets.
The site reportedly gets over 50 million page views a month and ranks in as one of the world's largest websites. Time Magazine listed Mashable as one of the 25 best blogs in 2009.
It has been described as a "one stop shop" for social media and as of March 2012 it has almost 3 million Twitter followers and almost 1 million fans on Facebook.
Mashable is a private company and has its headquarters in New York City as well as Palo Alto, Calif. CNN is reportedly looking to shell out $200 million in order to acquire the site.
The site hosts an annual event known as the Mashable Awards that includes award categories such as Best Mobile Game, Best Use of an API, Best Web Video, Most Promising Company and Entrepreneur of the Year.
The award show was initially named the Open Web Awards and began in 2007. Mashable officially changed it to the Mashable Awards in 2010.
