Rumors are spreading all over the blogosphere that Google and Digg are talking acquisition again as Google will be buying Digg for $200 million and bringing it in under the Google News umbrella, as TechCrunch is reporting (no word if the two parties are holed up in a secret hotel room location outside of MountainView or not).
Google buying Digg, a concept which seems so 2007, could be a reaction by Google to two major happenings of late;
1. Today’s AOL relaunch of Propeller with a new look and anti-spam algorithm which is destined to be integrated into Bebo and AOL’s global reach.
2. Google needs a high profile acquisition to attract eyes away from the Microsoft Yahoo deal which has been taking steam out of the somewhat under-performing Google ‘buzz’ engine; and a Microsoft-Yahoo partnership equals Yahoo Buzz throughout Microsoft and IE.
AOL integrating Propeller globally. Microsoft browsers integrating a Yahoo Buzz button.
Yes, only pipe dreams for right now, but if either big Reston or big Redmond can pull of the mass introduction of social news sharing to the masses, as Yahoo has proved it can do with its Buzz success (Y! Buzz attracted 9.2 Million users in June, topping all social voting sites), then Google is late to the punch, and really has nothing to bring to the social voting table, besides those silly dice on the Google toolbar.
Sure, Digg style voting across Google properties could benefit the Google index and the move would bring Google AdWords back to Dig (making lots of users happy); but I’ll believe it when the companies release the news that the deal has been closed.
