Sun Microsystems has bought the world's most popular open source database software MySQL for $1 billion.

This is big news. We use MySQL here at WorldTV, as do many other websites, and the deal means open source software finally means big business.

Exciting.

Posted by Alx Klive at 02:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In most businesses it is fairly simple to establish an approximate valuation for a particular company.

There are known rules of thumb such as multiple x annual sales (typically 3-5 as the multiple) or multiple x annual profit (typically 12-15 as the multiple).

For web 2.0 businesses with little in the way of either profit or sales, but a loyal and fast growing audience, another method is needed. Using either of the approaches above, such a site would appear worthless.

The good news is that 'eyeballs' are back. Big companies are finally realizing that they can't come up with all the new ideas, and that younger, smaller and more nimble web companies can deliver them a large audience or community on a plate, thanks to a great idea - well implemented, and the larger company can do what they do best which is figuring out how to monetize it. This explains why there have been so many acquisitions of websites and web development teams in the last couple of years.

So how do you value a website?

Continue reading "How to value a website using unique visitors" »

Posted by Alx Klive at 01:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)