Digg

The front page of the web, until v4

Revived
19902026

Digg was the social news site that defined web 2.0, launched in November 2004 and once valued around $164 million. The disastrous v4 redesign in 2010 sent its community to Reddit, and in July 2012 the remains were sold in parts, with Betaworks paying about $500,000 for the site itself.

Timeline

  1. 2004
  2. November 2004 Launch
    Digg launches

    Crowd-voted social news site by Kevin Rose and team.

  3. 2006
  4. 26 June 2006 Version
    Digg v3 launches

    Categories beyond tech news; Digg becomes a top-100 site and a kingmaker for traffic.

  5. August 2006 Peak
    Kevin Rose on the BusinessWeek cover

    "How this kid made $60 million in 18 months" cements Digg as the face of Web 2.0.

  6. 2007
  7. 1 May 2007 Incident
    The HD-DVD key revolt

    Users flood the front page with the AACS encryption key after takedowns; management capitulates.

  8. 2008
  9. September 2008 Peak
    Valued around $164 million

    Peak of funding-round valuation and cultural influence.

  10. 2010
  11. 25 August 2010 Version
    Digg v4 launches and implodes

    The redesign removes core community features; users defect to Reddit.

  12. 2012
  13. 12 July 2012 Acquisition
    Sold for parts

    Washington Post takes the team, LinkedIn the patents, Betaworks the site.

  14. August 2012 Revival
    Betaworks relaunches Digg

    A new editorial product under the old name.

Ownership

Digg, Inc. 2004–2012 Founded Raised ~$45M; valued around $164M at its 2008 peak
Betaworks 2012–2012 Acquisition, $500,000 Team went to The Washington Post (~$12M), patents to LinkedIn (~$4M)

Key figures

MetricValueAs ofConfidence
Valuation (USD) ▲ $164M September 2008 Reported Peak valuation

Confirmed official figures · Reported media, cites a source · Estimated analyst or our estimate

Why it shut down

Our analysis: Digg killed itself with the v4 redesign in August 2010: it removed the features its community was built on, users defected to Reddit en masse, and the company sold for parts two years later. Betaworks relaunched the brand as an entirely new product.

History

The power of the crowd

Digg launched in November 2004: users submitted links and "dugg" them, and the crowd, not editors, decided the front page. A spot on it could melt a server ("the Digg effect"). Kevin Rose landed on the cover of BusinessWeek, Google reportedly circled with a $200 million offer in 2008, and the site was the loudest voice in social news.

v4

On 25 August 2010 Digg shipped v4: a rewrite that removed burying, favourites and the upcoming queue, and pushed publisher feeds over user submissions. The community it depended on read that correctly as a demotion and left, mostly for Reddit, which never gave the crown back. By July 2012 Digg sold in three pieces: the team to The Washington Post (~$12M), patents to LinkedIn (~$4M), and the site, brand and traffic to Betaworks for around $500,000, roughly the price of a San Francisco apartment. Betaworks relaunched Digg as a clean editorial product that shares nothing but the name.

Similar projects

MySpace A place for friends 2003–now Google+ The social network everyone was signed up to and nobody used 2011–2019 Friendster The social network that came first 2002–2015 Orkut Brazil's living room, built in a 20% project 2004–2014 ICQ The messenger that gave you a number 1996–2024 Winamp It really whips the llama's ass 1997–2013

Sources

  1. Digg, Once Worth $164 Million, Sold To Betaworks For $500K Forbes 12 July 2012 [archived]
  2. Digg Sold To LinkedIn AND The Washington Post And Betaworks TechCrunch 12 July 2012 [archived]

Last verified: 11 August 2026