PaidContent pays off for Rafat Ali
"$30 million once. $30 million twice. Now going at $30 million. And gone for $30 million to the bespoke-suited gentlemen at the back with the folded newspapers under their arms." On Friday, the world woke up to the surprising news that Guardian News Media was acquiring Rafat Ali's paidContent.org for a reported $30 million. Actually, it is paidContent's parent company ContentNext Media that is being bought by the Graun. Rafat, a stickler for details, would appreciate that stab at accuracy. Anyway, five years ago, when paidContent was more of a blog than a media group, Rafat Ali took time out to talk to Rainy Day and he was frank about his strategy. Snippet:
"My business model is riding the coat-tails of other people's business model. That may be an exaggeration, but you get the point. Why duplicate the effort: just link to it. It is about efficiencies of effort and speed. Yes, speed, a virtue which we thought died with the 'new new economy'. The fact is that weblogging as a format promises that you will have your news in reverse chronological order, which creates an implicit social contract with your readers that your site will stay current."
In the five years since that conversation, PaidContent has changed quite a bit. For example, Kara Swisher wrote on Friday that, "Before its acquisition by Guardian, for example, ContentNext had been raising several million dollars recently to fuel more expansion." Clearly, "riding the coat-tails of other people's business model" was yesterday's business model. When all is said and done, however, with his tireless work and his adherence to the highest reporting standards, Rafat Ali made PaidContent what it is. This is a great business story and it shows that effort is sometimes rewarded.
