New York Times buys about.com for $410 million

[Renew Deal]

The New York Times Co. will pay $410 million in cash to purchase online content network About.com from current owner Primedia. The companies expect to close the deal by early April. About.com is a rare survivor from the dot-com boom. The venture was launched in 1997 as The Mining Company, then sold in 2000 to Primedia in an all-stock deal initially valued at $690 million. Primedia envisioned the site as a linchpin for its strategy of online-and-offline content synergy, but the publishing company struggled with strategy execution, debt, and management changes.
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http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/02/18/HNbriefs119_1.html?source=NLC-TB2005-02-18

[Liberal Veteran]

1. About.com annoys the fuck out of me.

I hate about.com sites.

[Renew Deal]

2. Me too

I personally hate hitting their sites. Pop up ads everywhere. I feel like my machine is being jacked.

[Robert Oak]

4. no kidding

what a turkey.

has so much tracking/spy stuff on it I won't go there...plus
a lot of keywords without a direct link to the info.

[starroute]

3. I find it useful sometimes

I use Firefox, so I don't get popup ads. And I do occasionally go to about.com when I want something like basic info on home networks or links to free webpage graphics. But on the whole, it's not nearly as useful as it could be. It would be nice to see it done right.