Rich Skrenta reports that 75% of his Topix.net has been sold to three newspaper groups. Topix has been a hot property for some time, and news of the deal whilst surprising, makes an awful lot of sense, particulary from the point of view of a very scared newspaper industry...
Tribune Group
* Knight-Ridder
In explaining the deal Skrenta said:
First, the basics: We're taking a majority equity investment, and will remain both editorially and structurally independent from our new partners. I'll continue being the CEO and will report to the board of directors, and our team will continue to develop Topix.net.
Why did we do this deal? Given our desire to grow Topix.net, there was no better option we could imagine. Tribune, Gannett and Knight Ridder bring enormous assets to the table. Not just financial backing, but online audience, content assets, and deep advertiser data. Operating alone we'd be aggressively seeking deals to work with the various parts of T/K/G anyway.
and as News: Topix Beds The Newspapers...
* Newspaper Giants Buy Web News Monitor
* Visit Topix.net
Related Murdok story:
Nick Wilson is the publisher and founder of Register here to participate. 
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