The Guardian has sold ContentNext Media, publisher of paidContent to GigaOM, for an undisclosed sum.
The deal will see technololgy blog GigaOM take control of paidContent, mocoNews.net, and contentSutra.com.
Guardian will become a minority shareholder in GigaOM. They will also be sending a representative to join the board as an observer.
The move comes as both companies are focusing on international expansion: the Guardian on its U.S. operations and GigaOM on expansion in the U.S. and into Europe.
GigaOM chief executive Paul Walborsky said his group and ContentNext were “a natural fit”.
He said in a statement: “Integrating our teams will enrich our editorial coverage and expand our footprint immediately in two markets that are critical to our growth – New York City and the UK.”
GigaOM was founded in 2006, covering global technology innovation and its impact on business. It claims an online audience of more than 4.5 million monthly unique visitors.
In a post entitled “Why we are buying PaidContent”, founder Om Malik added: “We are quite strategic about our acquisitions – we acquire media entities only if we love the people and believe that we are at the starting phase of a trend.”
PaidContent was launched by Rafat Ali in 2002 and was sold to the Guardian in 2008. The group’s sites claim 726,000 monthly unique visitors.
ContentNext executive Ernie Sander and editor Staci D Kramer said in a joint article last night: “The combined group will be a powerhouse, with more than 20 writers and editors, a strong presence on the East and West coasts and in Europe, and coverage of everything from media and big data, to the cloud and mobile, to book publishing and online video – not to mention the startup scene in various markets.”
Read the full statement from GigaOM here
