I wish I'd said this earlier today, as it would have made me look prescient instead of bandwagon-jumping, but when two companies that develop instant-publishing platforms take more than a day to respond to a takeover rumour... it's probably got legs.
So yes. Movable Type/Typepad makers SixApart are buying Livejournal. See also Brad for the Danga perspective, and Mena for SixApart's view.
I was a Livejournal "early adopter", which gives you certain privileges over free users, but I've been paying for my account for the last few years anyway. Even though LJ is now only a secondary blog for me, I feel that because I can afford to pay my way on the service, I should.
There's a certain symmetry there. I moved my primary blog away from Livejournal to Moveable Type. Then I syndicated my MT blog on Livejournal. Now, in a way, the two have joined together again.
It'll be interesting to see what happens. On one hand, I see no reason not to believe that both sides of the bargain mean exactly what they say. Brad doesn't believe Livejournal will change. The SixApart crew don't want to change it.
On the other hand, Danga was a casually-run company that existed to keep Livejournal running, and its founders cupboards full. SixApart is a venture-capital backed organisation that has a much more concrete appreciation of the concept of return on investment. It's inevitable that at some point, someone will look at the statistics and realise that fewer than one in fifty Livejournal users are actually contributing to its upkeep.
I don't doubt both sides' stated intentions, but there's some saying about good intentions and paved roads...
For me, the telling parts are:
o (from Mena's blog): "...many months ago... we had heard that he [Brad] was considering selling [LiveJournal]..." which suggests that Brad might no longer be personally committed to LiveJournal. Although to be fair, Brad indicates in his FAQ that it was running the business that he was tired of.
o (from Brad's FAQ): "What happens to the Danga employees? We're moving to San Francisco! ... I'm gonna work for Six Apart now (in San Fran)..." which suggests that Six Apart intends to have their fingers in the details of Danga's day-to-day operation. Enough so that Six Apart is willing to accept the inevitable loss of those Danga employees who do not want to make the very expensive move from Oregon to SF. This relocation is probably the biggest danger sign in the announcements.
o (from Brad's FAQ): "Are prices changing? Nope. That'd be silly and anger people unnecessarily." Does that mean that Brad is unaware of Six Apart's recent history in that regard? Or does he believe that they learned their lesson?
Clearly, LJ is going to come out on the losing end of this. Despite the words, the signs say that that 6A intends to run LJ their way, and that Brad no longer has the drive to interfere in business matters. My own projection: by the end of 2005, Brad will have left Six Apart.
I think it's been pretty clear that Brad's *never* been as interested in the mechanics of running a business as he is in solving the technical challenges required to build the community. That's probably best reflected in the fact that his new title is Chief Architect, not Chief Financial Officer or anything like that.
Your second point might be best addressed by letting you know that all the Danga folks are coming along for the ride, and we're glad to have 'em.
Finally, "Does that mean that Brad is unaware of Six Apart's recent history in that regard? Or does he believe that they learned their lesson?"
I'd wonder if you followed along *after* the hub-bub from the MT3 launch. Have you ever seen another tech company do as good a job of listening, collecting feedback, and responding by revising their practices to meet expectations? All the initial reactions to the iPod mini were that it was too expensive, but I must've missed Steve Jobs asking people to TrackBack apple.com with their suggestions of what's reasonable.
The most fascinating thing is that you take our words and draw the *exact opposite* conclusion from them from what we've stated. "Despite the words, the signs say that that 6A intends to run LJ their way". What signs are those? I'd like to be aware of them, because I'm sure missing them from the inside.
I'd have to side with Anil on this one. The impression given from both sides of the deal is that Brad wouldn't have considerd selling without some significant assurances that "his" Livejournal would continue.
The fact that people keep bringing up the MT3 pricing controversy every time SixApart does anything reminds me of this joke:
A drunken man was sitting in a country pub in England, rambling to whoever might listen.
"Walk ten miles down that road, and you'll cross five bridges. I built them all. But do they call me Sean the bridge-builder? No! I forged half the horseshoes in this village, but do they call me Sean the smith? Of course not! If it weren't for me, there'd be no rooves on any of these houses! Sean the tiler? Of course not!"
"But you fuck one goat..."
Then you are living a fool's paradise. Having been a veteran of no less than 5 M&As between F500 companies over the last 12 years, I've seen the pattern repeat every time.
1) Assurances are made that "nothing will change."
2) Reality crashes down 6-18 months later, and the bean counters realize that maintaining two distinct cultures is very expensive.
3) Someone who wants a feather in his cap/wants to "do what's best for the company" convinces management that they'll be better off by finishing the absorption of the weaker entity.
4) Major players on the weaker side leave the company --- the last defenders of the old status-quo.
5) Chaos. Some more weak-side players leave "to pursue other opportunities."
6) The cream of the workerbee talent on the weak side leaves, some on the strong side.
7) Merger complete. Reset and look for next victim, er, opportunity.
I too have been through a number of acquisitions and I agree that many of them have gone like this. However, all of them were back in the halcyon (and stupid) days of the Internet when companies gobbled other companies just because they were flush with cash and trying to be the biggest.
Our reason for acquiring Live Journal has little to do with thei actual users. We *LIKE* what Live Journal is and more what Live Journal's infrastructure can do for TypePad.
I know that you won't believe me since what I'm saying would technically fall under your item #1 above, so I suppose you'll just have to wait and see. But you should realize that although your experiences (and mine) with M&A have not been the best, they are textbook examples of bad management (which flourished during the boom years).
We (and by we I mean not just Six Apart but many web companies today) are smarter and more efficient and run our business for the long run and not the short term liquidation events that people used to drool over.
Anil: in response to your question "What signs are those?" (in response to my comment that "the signs say that that 6A intends to run LJ their way"): the major sign is the forced move of Danga from Oregon to San Francisco.
If 6A doesn't want to make any significant changes in the way that LJ is run, why do they need to bring LJ to San Francisco? That relocation speaks loudly that big changes are planned for LJ; changes that are too sweeping to be handled by telephone, fax, VPN, and e-mail (even between offices in the same time zone).
It also emits a strong odor of power-play: that 6A doesn't trust Danga personnel to go along with the changes. It seems that they want to have 6A management physically present to see who isn't "being a team player," and to strong-arm anyone who won't toe the party line.
And as a matter strictly of perception, the forced relocation sticks big labels on the two companies: "winner" and "loser."
First of all, the word "forced" implies that people are doing something against their will. Why do you assume that the move is against their will?
A big part of the reason that Brad and the Danga team were willing to be acquired is to take advantage of a good management team and in-place business infrastructure in order to more fully concentrate on Live Journal. Staying in Portland doesn't give them what they want.
Why do *we* need to bring Danga here? Well, for one, Brad is now Chief Architect of Six Apart. That's not just for Live Journal, but also for TypePad and, to a lesser extent Movable Type. Secondly, the Danga team's knowledge and proven abilities at building infrastructure are not just applicable to Live Journal, but also, in a big way, to TypePad.
All of this, by the way, is nicely laid out in Brad's announcement/FAQ[1].
"changes that are too sweeping to be handled by telephone, fax, VPN, and e-mail (even between offices in the same time zone)."
Why do you assume that it's Live Journal that's changing and not TypePad? Especially when both Brad, Mena and Anil have expressed the exact opposite?
As far as the power play speculation, you're getting into X-Files land here. The Danga team is as happy as we are about this. There's no conspiracy but there *IS* a heck of a lot of synergy.
[1] - http://www.livejournal.com/users/news/82926.html
mnbyondart.com without being as critical or judgemental.
http://prinz.byondart.com/prinz.html buy prinz online It didnt have to be sublime - it was
http://dan-browne.byondart.com/dan-browne.html buy dan browne fun. It didn't have to be profound -
http://jenifer-garner.byondart.com/jenifer-garner.html _ it was social. I bring this up because jenifer garner over the last several months, I've written
http://prins.byondart.com/prins.html order prins something like seven songs straight now
http://shaquille-oneil.byondart.com/shaquille-oneil.html shaquille oneil online where the music is complete and finished
http://micheal-jordan.byondart.com/micheal-jordan.html buy micheal jordan online as like I want it, and I don't have the
http://elton-jhon.byondart.com/elton-jhon.html buy elton jhon words. And, I've written a few where
http://jeniffer-aniston.byondart.com/jeniffer-aniston.html jeniffer aniston the words are to that same point, but
http://anika-sorenstam.byondart.com/anika-sorenstam.html order anika sorenstam although I can hear music to set them
http://puppets.byondart.com/puppets.html puppets online to, it's nothing solid, or it isn't fully
http://princes.byondart.com/princes.html princes Right. That's weird for me