FeedBurner to be acquired by Google

TechCrunch has confirmed the rumors regarding Google’s plan to acquire FeedBurner, a feed management service which is used by most bloggers. They are selling for $100 million in an all-cash deal to Google.

Google seems to be specifically interested in FeedBurner’s RSS Ad network which could work out as a brilliant addition to Google’s existing advertising platform. Once the acquisition is over, I expect Google to relaunch FAN (FeedBurner Ad Network) under AdSense for Feeds banner which is both good and bad. Good because Google’s existing resources can help FeedBurner enhance their existing service. Bad because, monopoly makes us feel uncomfortable.

In my opinion, $100 million sounds too low for a service which is used by majority of bloggers. FeedBurner which started with a venture capital of $10 million (in two rounds) is now selling for $100 million in just 3 years, which is quite good. I’m not happy with the idea of Google acquiring everything.

This post was published by on May 24, 2007

About the Author: Thilak Rao works as a Social Media Expert. He is one of the first professional bloggers from India, and he loves to write, travel and click photos. Follow him on Twitter @thilak

  • http://techmantra.net Vikram

    Me too man … Google Buys each and everything on the Internet World … First they aquired Youtube ,and now they are going to buy to Feed Burner.
    This is Really BAD !!!

  • http://courtneytuttle.com Court

    Really? Wow, Google is going to own the whole world pretty soon. Well, good for them, they’re just a lot better than everyone else!

  • http://kmaheshbhat.com Vyoma

    Neither am I comfortable with this development…

  • http://blog.shankarganesh.com Shankar Ganesh

    Agreed with your last word. It’s not good that Google is acquiring companies in a spree continuously. It’ll be interesting to know how Google will combine and adapt Feedburner with its existing offers online.

  • http://www.techmantra.net/2007/05/25/google-will-purchase-feedburner/ Vikram

    [...] Via Tech-buzz [...]

  • http://samirbharadwaj.com Samir

    Monopolies are never a comforting feeling.

    But then I had a problem with the idea of using Feedburner even before this development. I just think it’s a little weird to be allowing an external service to have any level of control over your RSS feed, which is after all a major part of your web presence.

    While I have realised I might have to give into Feedburner eventually, is anyone aware of similar feed stats functionality which can be integrated into WordPress? A hosted alternative would be a great thing to have.

  • http://www.techlivez.com latest technology news

    Google might make the premium services of feedburner free which is only good thing we can hope for..
    currently the Feedburner charges money for full stats..

  • Mosey

    Most of my visitors don’t use feeds else I might consider it, but it’s a bit weird to let Feedburner monitor all one’s feeds as Samir has already pointed out above.

  • http://www.kylescove.com Kyle Eslick

    Pretty much everyone uses Feedburner already, but it will be interesting to see how Google integrates them with their other services they offer.

    I’d expect creating a feedburner account to be built into Blogger in some form amongst other things.

  • http://tech-buzz.net/2007/07/03/google-makes-feedburner-pro-services-free/ Google Makes FeedBurner Pro Services Free

    [...] you anything. Continuing this culture, FeedBurner (which became a Google service after the recent acquisition) has decided to give two of its paid services for free: TotalStats and [...]

  • http://www.techmantra.net/2007/05/25/google-will-purchase-feedburner/ Vikram

    [...] Via Tech-buzz [...]