iMALL

The Lesson of Demand Media (And AOL): The Online Content Business Is a Looooong March to the Big Time

Kara Swisher in News on August 9, 2010 at 2:56 pm PT

After news of the Demand Media IPO filing came out late last week, I was not that surprised to get an email from someone deeply involved in building an online content business. “If they are worth over a billion with those financials, I can’t wait to find out what we are worth. What am I missing?” Well, nothing actually, as Demand’s filing to raise $125 million in an initial public offering at a reported $1.5 billion valuation showed that making it big in the online content business was still slow going. It is a lesson investors can also learn from AOL’s recent travails.

If Yahoo's Going Social, Is Demand Media Back on Its Dance List?

Kara Swisher in News on April 9, 2009 at 3:10 am PT

Last year, Yahoo EVP Hilary Schneider and then-Media Group head Scott Moore had a summery seaside dinner with Demand Media co-founder and CEO Richard Rosenblatt in Santa Monica, Calif., right around the corner from the online publishing company’s HQ. While many speculated that Yahoo could be doing some friendly kibitzing to get a sense of where the eclectic network of general- and special-interest sites was headed, for a possible acquisition, nothing came of it. But now, a year later, with recent indications that a major strategy for new CEO Carol Bartz will finally follow through on making Yahoo’s massive but disparate service more social, especially in its content offerings, several sources close to the company tell me another look-see at Demand is likelier than ever.