14 DAY TRIAL // AOL is said to be interested in TechCrunch, possibly the world's largest tech blog. AOL has been looking to become a media company and already owns several successful, independent blogs.
The details of the deal are scarce and, although it is said to be in the late stages, may still fall apart.
TechCrunch could sell for anywhere between $30 million to $40 million and the deal, it if goes through, is rumored to be announced at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference currently underway.
Om Malik of GigaOm first reported on the rumor and the Wall Street Journal also ran a similar and independent story.
The rumor looks rather solid at this point and it would not be the first time AOL and TechCrunch have discussed a possible buy. AOL has looked at other web publishing properties in the past, as well.
TechCrunch has grown to become one of the biggest tech blogs on the web, quite possibly the biggest. Its advertising page says it gets about 9.2 million monthly visitors and 30 million page views, but the data hasn't been updated since January.
Its success has been largely attributed to its founder, former Silicon Valley attorney Mike Arrington. It is speculated that, if a deal were to go through, its success would depend on AOL getting Arrington to stick around for at least a few years.
AOL has been remaking itself into a media company. Its acquisition of blog network Weblogs Inc, the company behind popular blogs such as Engadget, in 2005, proved to be rather successful, offsetting the drop in traffic the site saw on its homepage.
AOL and TechCrunch have been in discussions a few years ago but the deal fell through. There is no guarantee that these latest talks will be completed. If they do, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong is said to take the stage later today at TechCrunch Disrupt and make the announcement.