But both reports note that a hook-up between the companies wouldn’t be a bad idea.
In an interview with All Things Digital, the Demand Media founder said: “There is a lot of potential here, and I want to build a big company for the long-term.”
Says TechCrunch:
Despite a hectic past two months fighting off a proxy battle with investor Carl Icahn, Yahoo is rumored to be sending out buyout feelers for social-networks company Demand Media.
It just so happens that what Demand Media is good at–generating lots of advertising impressions and creating niche social networks for media sites, may be a perfect fit for at least some of what ails Yahoo.
Yahoo’s Hilary Schneider, who was recently promoted to oversee the company’s U.S. go-to market operations, traveled to Demand Media’s Santa Monica, Calif., offices a couple weeks ago to gauge Demand’s interest in a $1.5 billion to $2 billion buyout, TechCrunch reports, citing unnamed sources.
But Demand Media didn’t bite, TechCrunch notes, adding that company founder Richard Rosenblatt is said to be seeking a price in the $3 billion range.
A post in All Things Digital casts a different perspective on that meeting.
All Things Digital also cites Yahoo sources as saying there has been “no offer floated” to acquire Demand Media.
But should Yahoo want to make a play for the company and force a deal, Demand Media doesn’t have the same pressures as Yahoo, which is in its own fix with Icahn. Demand Media isn’t publicly traded, at least yet…