Top 20 Blog Sales of All Time: Blogs Which Sold from $1 Million to $100 Million

Are you a blogger with big aspirations to make it online?

Starting a blog is a challenge that many take on, and only a few get to finish. Blogging is hard work, and it takes a level of extreme creativity to keep producing top-quality content that catches people’s attention.

However, if you spent the last year getting your feet wet in the realm of blogging, you might find yourself wondering about your exit strategy. What’s your blog really worth? We’re talking cash-money value  here after all, isn’t that what got you started on your blogging journey in the first place?

Many bloggers can’t wait for the day they build enough traffic to monetize their site. Feeling like your hard work is finally bearing fruit is a fantastic feeling that every blogger deserves. However, you don’t intend to run your blog forever, do you?

At what stage will you decide to throw in the towel and move onto other projects? Most bloggers experience success with their blogs because they choose a niche where they can explore their passions in life. Making money from affiliate marketing and advertising strategies is a way to fund their lifestyle, and avoid going back to that 9 to 5 job they hate.

Therefore, most bloggers work out of passion, with financial success coming as a result of their hard work. So, telling a blogger to give up their blog for other things in life will likely result in a laugh as they blow you off.

However, what if someone offered you millions of dollars to buy your blog? Would you refuse? If the sound of riches landing in your bank account is appealing, then you might want to consider cashing out at some stage.

So, what can you expect from selling your blog? Let’s take a look at the top 20 blog sales of all time. The results might shock you.

#1 Ugo.com – Selling price: $100-million

• Founded in 1997
• Sold in 2007
• Daily Revenue Value: $27,397

Founded by Chris Sherman in 1997, Unified Gamers Online was a successful blog on the gaming industry. Action World Inc. saw the potential of the blog early, renaming the blog “UGO Networks. ”

However, the name didn’t sit well with the gaming community, and Action World changed the name to Online Underground shortly after that. The Hearst Corporation eventually purchased the blog for a price tag of $100-million.

#2 Fotolog – Selling Price: $90-million

• Founded in 2002
• Sold in 2007
• Daily Revenue Value: $49,315

Scott Heiferman founded Fotolog in 2002. 3-years later, the site got so big that it started experiencing problems with its servers unable to handle the daily traffic volume. Hi-Media Group bought the blog in 2007 for $90-million, and with 20-million unique visitors a month, it proved to be a profitable decision.

#3 Consumersearch – Selling Price: $33-million

• Founded in 1999
• Sold in 2007
• Daily Revenue Value: $11,301

Carl Harmaan and Derek Grew co-founded Consumerseacrh in 1999 at the height of the tech bubble. About.com purchased the site in 2007 for the tidy sum of $33-million, as a subsidiary of the New York Times Co. The site continued to grow and received the honors in the 13th annual webby awards competition.

#4 TechCrunch – Selling Price: $30-million

• Founded in 2005
• Sold in 2010
• Daily Revenue Value: $16,438

Anyone who’s into tech knows about TechCrunch. This popular tech website got its start through founding member Michael Arrington in 2005, with its first publication going live on June 11th, 2005. Michael built the website quickly, and just 3-years later sold it to AOL for $30-million.

#5 PaidContent – Selling Price: $30-million

• Founded in 2002
• Sold in 2008
• Daily Revenue Value: $13,698

Rafat Ali founded Paidcontent in 2002 as a resource for news, analysis, and information. As a journalist himself, Ali felt that founding the site was a natural progression of his skillset. The Guardian Media Group eventually purchased the blog for $30-million in 2008. However, they kept Ali on board, and he’s now the editor of the site.

#6 Tatter and Company – Selling Price $30-million

• Founded in 2002
• Sold in 2008
• Daily Revenue Value $13698

Also known as TNC, Chester Roh and Chang-won Kim co-founded Tatter and Company in 2002. Google purchased this popular Korean blogging platform in 2008 for $30-million.

#7 Ars Technica – Selling Price $25-million

• Founded in 1998
• Sold in 2008
• Daily Revenue Value: $6,849

Ken Fisher founded Ars Technica in 1998, quickly establishing the blog’s authority in the tech industry. The site provides users with plenty of news and reviews related to the tech niche. Conde Nast Publications eventually bought the blog for $25-Million in 2008, just a decade after its launch.

#8 Weblogs.com – Selling Price: $25-million

• Founded in 2003
• Sold in 2005
• Daily revenue value: $34,722

Jason Calacanis and Brian Alvey founded weblogs in 2003, with an investment from Mark Cuban, the famed serial entrepreneur. Weblogs was a combination of 12 other sites focused on a professional readership. AOL ended up purchasing the blog in 2005 for the sum of $25-million.

#9 Livejournal.com – Selling Price: $25-million

• Founded in 1999
• Sold in 2007
• Daily Revenue Value: $8,561

LiveJournal was one of the first platforms allowing users to keep an online journal or an independent blog. The company utilized open-source server technology, allowing users to create diaries and blogs online, as well as a host of other services such as polls, calendars, and much more. LiveJournal sold to Six Apart in 2007 for $25-million.

#10 Bankaholic.com – Selling Price: $15-million

• Founded in 2006
• Sold in 2008
• Daily Revenue Value $20,547

John Wu, also the founder of CB Land Investments, started Bankaholic in 2006. This website was a financial blog offering readers financial advice. This online banking marketplace eventually sold for $15-Million to BankRate, giving the site the professional backing of real-world bankers.

#11 Deadline Hollywood – Selling Price: $14-million

• Founded in 2006
• Sold in 2009
• Daily Revenue Value $5,479

In 2002, Nikki Finke started Deadline Hollywood as a column in the publication, LA weekly. As you can imagine from the title, the column talked about the latest news and trends in Hollywood. Nikki transitioned to column into an online blog in 2006, with the new name “Deadline Hollywood Daily.”

Due to the sudden popularity of the blog, the Mail Media Corporation bought it from Nikki in 2009 for the sum of $14-million. The company once again changed the name of the blog, and now it has the moniker of “deadline.com.”

#12 Wonkette – Selling Price: $12-million

• Founded in 2004
• Sold in 2006
• Daily Revenue Value: $16,438

Founded in January 2004 as part of the Gawker Media Network, this blog’s founding editor, Ana Marie Cox, is also the editor of another popular website, suck.com. Gawker predicted a downturn in the internet economy and decided to sell the blog to Ken Layne and his business associates for the sum of $12-Million in 2006. Ken was also the editor of the site at the time he bought it from Gawker Media.

#13 Celebrity Baby Blog –Selling Price $10-million

• Founded in 2004
• Sold in 2008
• Daily Revenue Value $6,849

Danielle Friedland started Celebrity Baby Blog in 2004 to track the lives of the children of the rich and famous. The blog was an instant hit online, attracting plenty of new visitors every day since its inception. Danielle ended up selling the blog in 2008 to Times Inc for the sum of $10-million. Today, the blog goes by the name of babyrazzi.com.

#14 Tree Hugger – Selling Price: $10-million

• Founded in 2005
• Sold in 2007

Daily Revenue Value $6,849

Graham Hill founded Tree Hugger in 2005, as an environmentalist and activist with a handle on technology. Graham held onto the blog for two years before selling it to the Discovery Communication network for a price tag of $10-million in 2007. Not bad for two years of work.

#15 Freakanomics – Selling Price: $8-million

• Founded in 2005
• Sold in 2007
• Daily Revenue Value $10,958

Stephen J. Dubner founded Freakanomics in 2005. At the time of its launch, Stephen was a professional journalist working for the New York Times. Stephen also named the site after his best-selling book, “Freakanomics” and he eventually ended up selling the site to the New York Times only two years later for $8-million

#16 The Consumerist – Selling Price: $7-million

• Founded in 2005
• Sold in 2008
• Daily Revenue Value $7,305

The Gawker Media Group is responsible for the creation of the Consumerist. As you can tell, Gawker is doing quite well in the business of selling popular websites for a handsome profit. The site was originally the brainchild of Lockhart Steele and Nick Denton, both of which are high-ranking executives at Gawker. The pair decided to sell the website in 2008 to Consumer Media LLC, for the sum of $7-million.

#17 World Hum – Selling Price: $6-million

• Founded in 2001
• Sold in 2007
• Daily Revenue Value $2,739

This award-winning blog is the creation of Michael Yessis and Jim Benning. The blog features magazine-quality content and focuses on the travel sector. The blog featured plenty of categories, with Q&A sections, how-to articles, and reviews of the best travel destinations. The Travel Channel decided to buy the blog in 2007 for a price tag of $6-million.

#18 Arseblog – Selling Price: $5-million

• Founded in 2006
• Sold in 2007
• Daily Revenue Value $13,698

Andrew Managan founded Arseblog in 2006. The site focuses on everything to do with the English football club, Arsenal. At the time, Arsenal were the league leaders in the English Premier League, and there was plenty of hype around the club and the players. Ole Ole bought Arseblog from Andrew in 2007 for $5-million and rebranded the site to “Ole Ole.”

#19 GardenRant – Selling Price: $1.3-million

• Founded in 1996
• Sold in 2007
• Daily revenue Value $395.73

In 1996, Susan Harris was part of a new generation of bloggers exploring the potential of the internet. She started the site as a way to share her passion for gardening with the rest of the world.

The GardenRant gave readers thoughtful advice and tips on gardening and offered special promotions to its readers. GardenWeb eventually bought the site from Susan for the sum of $1.3-Million, which is exceptional for a gardening site.

#20 Politicshome – Selling Price: $1.3-million

• Founded in 2008
• Sold in 2009
• Daily Revenue Value $3,561

Stephan Shakespeare founded Politicshome in 2008. It’s also worthy to note that Stephan is also the CEO and founder of YouGov, an internet market research company. A year after the blog’s online launch, Stephan ended up selling the site to Conservative politician Michael Ashcroft, for a price tag of $1.3-million.

Do You Have What It Takes to Make Millions from Your Blog?

As you can see, selling your blog online could net you millions of dollars if you find the right buyer. Granted, most of these valuation figures come from the early 2000s, and things in the online world are nothing like they were some 10 to 15-years ago.

However, there are still plenty of opportunities to sell your blog for a tidy profit, and then head off into the sunset to enjoy the fruits of your labor. So, what does it take to develop and sell a successful blog?

Build the Traffic, and They Will Come

The key to any successful blog is its viewership. You could have the best-looking blog online, along with outstanding content – but if you don’t have any traffic, there’s no monetary value in your site. Traffic is the key to blogging success, and you need to drive as much of it as you can to your platform.

Keys to Blogging Success

As a blogger, you might have huge aspirations of one day selling your blog for millions. However, it’s going to be a long journey to success. Even if you manage to sell your blog quickly like some of the examples above, you’ll still have to put in a good deal of effort.

Make sure your blog focuses on your passion and interests in life. By working with what you love, you’ll push through all of the uncertainty along the way.

If you’d like to know about starting your own blog, read our complete guide here.