Revealed: Wikia (Wikipedia-Model) search bought "Grub" crawler for $50K
[Scoop! News - not an echo!]
A while back, Wikia search, the much-hyped search effort by Jimmy Wales to do a for-profit search engine via a Wikipedia-like model (i.e. free labor from the public), acquired the "Grub" crawler. In terms of following the money, from the Securities and Exchange Commission company filing for the previous owner (LookSmart), it's been disclosed that Wikia bought the "Grub" crawler for $50K:
Grub
The URL for Grub and certain source code were sold for $50,000 on July 12, 2007 A gain on sale of assets of $50,000 was recorded in the three months ended September 30, 2007, which is included in other operating income (loss), net.
Compare Grub's purchase by LookSmart at $1.3 million
Grub, Inc.
In January 2003, the Company acquired intellectual property rights from Grub, Inc. and an individual for total consideration of $1.3 million, consisting of $0.6 million cash payment, including $12,000 of direct costs and the issuance of 217,000 shares of LookSmart common stock valued at $0.7 million.
[Hat tip to Gary Price for that last bit of info.]
Now, the $50K price might be connected to the Wikia / LookSMart ad deal, so it may not be the full story in itself. But there's definitely a money lesson in here somewhere, even if it's not clear what it is.
By Seth Finkelstein | posted in wikia-search | on November 12, 2007 03:59 PM (Infothought permalink)
