Australian tech writer and entrepreneur Duncan Riley has sold his website The Inquisitr to an unnamed Israeli media buyer for $330,000, with the acquisition closing today after a week of being listed on auction site Flippa.com.
Riley, who has previously written for TechCrunch and co-founded B5 Media, put the site up for sale due to personal issues.
“I’m going to be taking a break from building the site. I’m probably going to sit on a beach for a month, offline, and then start a new site.”
The site specialises in technology, sports, entertainment and “odd and funny news”.
Riley says that most of the writers at Inquisitr will hold on to their jobs, (he promised to pay them if they did not), and that after a few months of being “semi-retired” he will start a new site based on new media and technology.
“It’s not pinned down yet, and it won’t be competing with the site, but it will be some sort of basis in a niche industry.”
The site sold for $330,000, which was $30,000 above the reserve price put on the site, which is entirely owned by Riley.
While Riley would not divulge the identity of the buyer, he would reveal the person is a media buyer based in Israel.
“He has some interesting plans, wants to expand the site and grow it more. He has worked in the business before, and will run it. The domain names and everything have been transferred.”
According to Riley’s auction post, the site nets $15,699 in income every month – on average over the past year – and recorded 17 million unique visitors between May 2010 and April 2011. It also recorded 84 million page views.
“Based on our figures and content, we’d presume someone currently in the business, or with knowledge of the US ad market, will make a lot more money out of the site than I did.”
Riley says the site will continue to do well, but for now, “I need a break”.
