I have followed Duncan Riley‘s news site the Inquistr since he started it after leaving TechCrunch in 2008. I even did a couple of guest posts and did a post on CPM advertising back in 2008. It really doesn’t seem so long ago now.
Here is what I wrote then, “So the Inquisitr might be struggling to make money now, if it continues to grow rapidly, I am sure an old media newspaper or magazine, might be quick to snap it up”. For now the buyer’s identity is a secret and the whois data is set to private.
The sales was listed on Flippa where you can see all of the traffic and revenue numbers.
When he launched the site, I couldn’t help thinking:
- the name is difficult to spell (which is still a negative IMO for anyone looking to go directly to the site)
- who would be interested in reading a blog on tech and celebrity news (obviously many people)
- how can you make money from advertising (if you have the traffic the advertisers will come)
It is a fantastic result from a still relatively new site and a great source of inspiration for any budding internet entrepreneurs.
So what’s next for Duncan? Duncan has mentioned many times before how he wants to start an Australian version of Huffington Post. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is what he is planning. I can honestly say all of the mainstream news sites in Australia are totally cr*p. Crickey.com.au is perhaps one exception and while they were once fairly cutting-edge, they seem to be fairly mainstream now.
You can read more about the sale here.
