Russia’s SUP paid roughly $30 million to U.S. Six Apart for LiveJournal Internet service. Some market players say the deal was profitable, others don’t see any future for LiveJournal in its today’s form.
Photo: Roman Yarovitsin
| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
SUP Bought Out LiveJournal
Russia’s SUP paid roughly $30 million to U.S. Six Apart for LiveJournal Internet service. Some market players say the deal was profitable, others don’t see any future for LiveJournal in its today’s form.
It was SUP chief Andrew Paulson that told Kommersant about the deal. According to Paulson, SUP set up LiveJournal Inc., San Francisco, to manage and promote LiveJournal. Mr Paulson didn’t name the deal budget, but the source said it neared $30 million.
Andrew Paulson and firms of Alexander Mamut founded SUP in 2006. SUP holds the right to support and develop the Cyrillic portion of LiveJournal as well as the championat.ru sport web. SUP includes +Sol promotion agency for social media and Victory S.A. agency.
LiveJournal (LJ) is a virtual community where Internet users keep blogs, journals or diaries. It was launched March 18, 1999 by Brad Fitzpatrick of the U.S. In 2005, Six Apart bought out Danga Interactive, the asset management company of LiveJournal. As of July 6, 2007, LJ had over 13 million users. The number of its Russian users reached 610,000 in the fall, according to Yandex.
The deal is the second agreement of SUP and Six Apart. SUP inked a license agreement with Six Apart in October of 2006, having gained the Cyrillic segment of LiveJournal, which accounts for 28 percent of its monthly audience.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 03, 2007
|
|
|
