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Google Hot about FeedBurner?
By Mark Evans | May 21, 2007
Given all the excitement - and acquisitions - about online advertising plays, it should come as little surprise that FeedBurner is apparently in play. According to blogger and Web 2.0 consultant Sam Sethi, the suitor is Google, and the price is a cool $100-million. At a time when there’s so much hype Web 2.0, FeedBurner has not found itself in the eye of the hurricane. Instead, it’s embraced a solid strategic approach that has seen it become the leading provider of RSS publishing tools as well as one of the leading advertising networks for RSS feeds. As VentureWire writes, FeedBurner has also been a long-rumoured takeover candidate so the Google rumors could be nothing. But given the heat surrounding the online ad market, you have to believe where there’s smoke, there’s probably fire.
Personally, I’d like to see FeedBurner stay out of the grasp of Google, Microsoft, News Corp., etc. given it’s playing such an important role in promoting RSS as a publishing and advertising tool. To become engulfed within a Web giant would certainly give FeedBurner more financial clout but the company’s cache and maybe its raison d’etre could fade if its independence disappears. Wouldn’t be it more interesting if FeedBurner raised some venture capital to build a little Web 2.0 powerhouse by acquiring Technorati or Sphere? It’s unlikely this will happen give the big M&A money being thrown around but it’s an interesting idea.