Automattic, the company behind the WordPress blogging platform, reportedly has its investors on its case, possibly pushing for a sell. Automattic is currently being courted by a few companies, including Velocity Investment Group, but it looks like no decisions have been reached.
Is Automattic holding out Facebook-style? After the recent acquisition of Gravatar, surely the company is looking for as high of a valuation as possible, which could be anywhere between $150 million to $300 million right now. Automattic has reportedly raised just over $1 million in funding.
[via paidcontent]
User comment: By: David CohenAutomattic has a number of ways they make money, most notably their Support Network, VIP Hosting and Akismet. Automattic probably owns the trademark to WordPress, but as Aaron said, the software itself is GPL'd. I love a good rumor, hope this one isn't true, but am very surprised it took this long for an Automattic fumor sale to come up.
User comment: By: Aaron BrazellWordPress, the software, is not owned by Automattic. It's not owned by anyone. It's GPL open source.
User comment: By: Cameron ChapmanEven though exactly how they're generating income is a little sketchy at the moment (they do have some paid features and products, but they wouldn't seem to justify a valuation of $150-$300 million), the potential is huge. WordPress is probably the most widely used blogging platform out there, and tapping into that huge market with add-ons, advertising, and other paid services could prove to be quite profitable.
User comment: By: AngelosThe recent acquisition from Automatic was somewhat confusing since I am confused by their means of generating income, outside of funding. If the Paidcontent leak is accurate, does not look like the purchase help balloon the valuation. As a satisfied user of Wordpress, I hope the future ownership change does not effect the functionality of the service.
[...] There are posts on the acquisition at: Matt's blog; the WordPress.com blog; Read/Write Web; Mashable. [...]
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