Microsoft & Digg Deal Spur Acquisition Rumors

Everyone's heard about Digg & MSN partnering for advertising syndication.  Over the past few days there's been a bunch of rumors running wild about an impending acquisition of Digg by Microsoft, Pete Cashmore over at Mashable thinks its bunk.  I tend to agree with him on that thought, and his thought on it creating a riot.

How ironic would it be, if Microsoft did buy Digg?  Isn't Microsoft the Evil of all Evils over at that social news site?  9 out of 10 Microsoft stories immediately get buried, unless its bad news for MS or a story about Ballmer throwing chairs.  What kind of sweet justice it would it be for marketers, should this happen?

I find this speculation interesting, as the possibility is definitely there.  Microsoft is not short on cash, and Digg did just dump Google for a 3 year deal with Microsoft's advertising network. There's definitely a little basis to the rumors and speculation going around this past week.

I especially like Evan Roberts, of MarketingShift, take on the speculation of a Digg acqusition of Microsoft:

"If MSN were to acquire Digg.com it would introduce a whole new plethora of users to Digg.com, pump much needed life into all the dead Digg sections, and continue bringing down servers worldwide (although being MSNugg doesn't have the same ring to it). I'd also assume that there would be a mini-revolt from all the Apple fanboys and Kevin Rose loving Digg purists who want the site to remain 'homegrown' but in the end we'd all win."

Really makes one stop and ponder those possibilities, doesn't it?