gotta love stumble

http://cashtutor.blogspot.com

Though I loves it, SU’s days seem numbered. Having finally played around with Twine, the value proposition of the semantic + bookmarking sites seems to be the wave of the near-future, in which case it’s a smart move to unload such properties now if you can’t bolster them with super smart backends. It’d be a smart move for someone to pick up the SU brand at a reasonable cost, then add the brains. SUv2.

I think you meant “our source” not “out source”.

StumbleUpon is plagued with spam and advertisers. Good sites are few and far between. I’m surprised 1.3 million people still use.

Further proof that Ebay is in trouble. Never really could get a grasp of why they purchased it or Skype. GL to the buyers.

So what’s the consensus, selling less than 75m? I’ve used SU for 2+ years but not terribly active. Great traffic driver but for how long?

hopefully the stumbleupon guys buy it for a song and resell it again like one of my favorite startup tales, webshots

the domain name was enough to turn me away.

OpinionLocator.com

Key lesson here for startups – don’t get greedy.

Sell, if someone wants to buy you.

1.3 million worldwide visitors? – that can’t be right. Go up an order of magnitude to 10.3 million visitors and you might be on the right track.

You’re linking to Google Trends for Searches, not for Websites. Here is the correct link: http://trends.google.com/websites?q=stumbleupon.com&sa=N

[...] Dikabarkan Ebay telah memerintah Deutsche Bank untuk menemukan pembeli yang tepat. Namun seberapa besar StumbleUpon akan dibanderol, tidak ada yang tau. Berminat? [...]

Stagnation? Looks like a sharp decline to me. It appears that Ebay has a bit of buyer’s remorse.

Jason Kiesel
Founder & CEO
http://www.freedomspeaks.com

Also, Google Trends is quite inaccurate from my experience and you need to know if StumbleUpon’s toolbar is counted in their traffic before making any determinations on their decline or stagnation.

I just actually started using StumbleUpon a month or so ago (i know i know) but I find it quite entertaining to take an hour or so of my day every couple days and just STUMBLE. I’ve come across some pretty interesting stuff and havent even started to hit repeats yet. My site at http://www.sellingcr.com receives all kinds of “stumble traffic” which is nice. I bet they get a pretty penny and even maybe…double their dough. Double dough!
Peace.

Yes that is what happens when you operate in a competitive market and don’t focus on your operations which you are known for1

EBAY is getting wiser… they are selling hodgepodge things they were doing instead of making their services better… i hope they have sold skype too !

I like SU, is cool and has a great community. Too bad that eBay has no idea what to do with hot start-ups.

So it was bad for them to own SU, and now it’s bad that they’re selling them? Either way, EBay loses.

Makes you wonder if they’re thinning themselves into something specific.

Their reliance on the toolbar is probably the #1 reason for SU’s stagnated growth. Good luck trying to get Facebook sized audiences to even understand what the toolbar does, let alone install it. And how do you do ads on the toolbar without looking cheap like Yahoo or AOL messenger? The website hasn’t been given a facelift since the eBay aquisition, either. It’s confusing and a real put-off for would-be new users. Moral of the story: stop playing with toolbars, start focusing on the website.

The dips in the Stumbleupon traffic tally up with data I have from other sites and correspond to the changes in the way Google handle tag pages in their index for certain sites.
Whilst Google have given indication that they don’t want search results indexed, tag pages are something different, though I am not sure the determining factor should be how much data they mashup from other sources.

WP.com so far doesn’t seem to be affected in the same way as other services, and Crunchbase is going strong.

It would be nice for Google to provide some more guidelines on this – I have nudged them in the past.

SU was a good discovery for me.. but i stopped using it completely a while ago. a users homepage/profile is the messiest place on the internet. i cant even go through my library of bookmarks/stumbles without having to spend a few minutes and clicking around. annoying as hell! very poo UI on the destination site..

Why did they buy it in the first place?

Michael, Stop spreading these rumours. Digg and Skype are still unsold. Now you are after stumbleupon. Wheres your magic touch gone

fixed, thanks.

This is funny! I still don’t really get why Ebay would acquire a company like StumbleUpon. The recommendations are for websites, not for products that are sold in Ebay. Anyways, at least now Ebay realizes its mistake — good for them! I like Stumbleupon, but the only hassle with that is to install a toolbar and it’s pretty much used for fun mostly. However, I like Cruxle (www.cruxle.com) for entertainment recommendations. It’s a great website if you want to discover your favorite TVShows, Movies, Music, Books, Videos … Though the UI is not that great, I love their contents and functionalities. Hopefully, they will improve their UI soon

[...] Rumor: eBay trying to sell StumbleUpon — The social discovery service, which we detailed here, is apparently up for sale after being bought by the auction giant in 2007, according to TechCrunch. [...]

[...] compró el motor de recomendaciones StumbleUpon en mayo de 2007 por 75 millones de dólares. Ahora, año y medio después, está tratando de deshacerse de él, según una fuente cercana al [...]

[...] in Brief: TechCrunch is reporting that eBay is set to sell recommendation StumbleUpon, after acquiring the site over a [...]

[...] social media companies is a tricky business as shown by yesterday’s rumour that Ebay is putting StumbleUpon up for sale – over the last twelve months traffic has declinced by [...]

[...] social media companies is a tricky business as shown by yesterday’s rumour that Ebay is putting StumbleUpon up for sale – over the last twelve months traffic has declinced by [...]

Umm, how does that lesson apply here? I scoff at your blanket assertions.

[...] spending $75 million in acquiring site recommendation engine StumbleUpon, eBay has plans at cutting off StumbleUpon from its armory. eBay  has taken the assistance of Deutsche Bank to get a bid from the right [...]

I absolutely agree. I love stumble, but people just dont like to ‘install’ a what? a plugin? whuh huh?

[...] according to TechCrunch, StumbleUpon is on the block as eBay looks to become more focused at a time when its online auction [...]

stumbled!

[...] TechCrunch are reporting that eBay are to sell StumbleUpon, the website discovery service they bought in May 2007 for $75 million. According to TechCrunch’s source, eBay have hired Deutsche Bank to find a buyer for the site. [...]

[...] retailer bought last year for $75-million. Mike Arrington says that reputable sources have told him the company is for sale. I can’t say I’m all that surprised. Not because Stumbleupon isn’t an attractive [...]

The problem is you NEED the stupid toolbar to use Stumble (from what I remember…maybe I have it wrong) AND a Stumble account…I hate having my browser cluttered w/ 3rd party toolbars.

I wonder how many potential users were turned off when they learned they’d have to install a toolbar (I usually associated toolbars with spyware/adware because for a long time that’s all they were used for)…

In ONE month.

I hardly think 10+ million unique visitors are using Stumble each month. You’d hear more about it.

[...] TechCrunch are reporting that after just 16 months that eBay are now trying to sell StumbleUpon. [...]

[...] is selling off STUMBLEUPON. eBay, which acquired StumbleUpon for $75 million in May of 2007, has hired Deutsche Bank to assist [...]

It really is a novelty service. I got tired of it after a few months.

how is it a great traffic driver? {seesmic_video:{“url_thumbnail”:{“value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/xIduHUvt6i_th1.jpg”}”title”:{“value”:”how is it a great traffic driver? ”}”videoUri”:{“value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/gyVwQnInbi”}}}

eBay should sell Skype to Google. I need free desktop sharing from Skype.

Is there a way to SU can make the toolbar optional? I remember thinking that their service was “COOL” but then I was turned off by the mandatory toolbar. If they could offer the same service but eliminate toolbar, I think exponential growth from their current number is still possible.

Jippidy.com – Video Yellow Pages

BestMatch technology should be bundled with the sale of SU. We need Classic eBay back!

[...] Checkout: That Was Fun, But Now Ebay’s Selling Off StumbleUpon [...]

How would they offer the service without the toolbar? SU isn’t a destination site, and one must be able to interact while on other sites, so a toolbar is the only way (unless you’d rather a greasemonkey script).

Most firefox users don’t have problems installing toolbars, and when you are not using it, just remove it from the View.

I used SU for months, when I switched to chrome I realised how much time I actually wasted looking at not much.

Deutsche Bank soll StumbleUpon verkaufen…

Nachdem ebay den Social Bookmarking Dienst StumbleUpon vor erst einem Jahr für rund 75 Millionen Dollar gekauft hatte, sucht ebay laut Techcrunch nun den Exit lustigerweise über die Deutscha Bank….

I hope stumble does not change the way it operates…I adore stumble and get loads of traffic from it……

StumbleUpon is a great tool for finding sites, and I used to use it fairly often. Recently, it has been full of advertisers and spam. My use (and apparently most of the registered users) has declined lately. I’m not entirely certain whether this is because the novelty factor has worn off, or that I’m simply not finding as many great sites as I used to. It’s probably a combination of both, along with my annoyance at the heavy advertising that is plaguing StumbleUpon

Mike, you’re thinking of SU in the wrong context. There’s not necessarily a ‘destination’ like digg or reddit. People mainly just setup their profile and start stumbling, without going to su.com. So measuring how many cilcks the toolbar gets each day is more accurate of usage. I would imagine it’s in the hundreds of millions considering how much traffic comes from SU. Registered user base is also a key metric. Plus its the only social linking site that actually brings in revenue from content sites, and not just display ads. Brilliant if you ask me.

If you read the article, you will see that its a decline in growth, not in users. In other words, the number of users is still going up — just not as fast as it used to. 10-20% annual growth is still very reasonable, for any business. I don’t see how any company would expect to maintain 50%+ annual growth over a long period.

eBay was stupid to buy Stumble. It doesn’t fit with what they do and now they’ll lose a few million dollars learning their lesson.

[...] ADOTAS – eBay is angling for bidders on recommendation engine StumbleUpon, according to a report in TechCrunch. [...]

How was this business supposed to fit in with ebay? {seesmic_video:{“url_thumbnail”:{“value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/kwKduck5Gl_th1.jpg”}”title”:{“value”:”How was this business supposed to fit in with ebay? ”}”videoUri”:{“value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/17xpusxqVI”}}}

it drives traffic if your lucky. it all depends on the type of post that you write but i have had a steady stream of traffic using SU. But you get even better traffic if somebody stumbled it other then you.

Bookmarking is in stagnation so proper sites(even leaders like StumbleUpon and Delicious) are with problems too http://tinyurl.com/4zfqpp.

@Loic There are *extremely* loyal SU users esp. in photography & art & design. It’s a *visual* search engine. I always find something interesting every time I visit.

But, just like any social site, the more you use it (friend folks, add tags and topics and groups), the more you will find it useful, informative and fun!

Come find me there: http://barbarakb.stumbleupon.com

[...] bookmarking site that they acquired for $75 million.  This rumor was started by a source of TechCrunch.  The price for selling off StumbleUpon is unknown.  I think it is still a mystery for [...]

[...] bookmarking site that they acquired for $75 million.  This rumor was started by a source of TechCrunch.  The price for selling off StumbleUpon is unknown.  I think it is still a mystery for [...]

[...] начинает избавляться от неприоритетных проектов и ищет покупателя для [...]

[...] as rosy as it once did, we think it only makes sense for eBay to sell it off again. According to TechCrunch, eBay has hired Deutsche Bank to find a buyer, though the asking price is not [...]

well the creators got 75 million out of it. so ebay is the one who looks foolish.

I reviewed a nice little tool Mikogo yesterday and they only yesterday launched a Skype extra for free screen sharing and it really works pretty well. That may be just what you need.

For the last several months, we have received more incoming link traffic to Rocketboom from SumbleUpon than from any other site, by far.

Data mining and recommendation engine technology. I guess they thought people would stumble ebay listings, which just isn’t how the service is used.

[...] Report: Ebay Looking to Sell StumbleUpon TECHCRUNCH In May 2007 eBay acquired website recommendation engine StumbleUpon for $75 million. Now, less than a year and a half later, they’re trying to unload it according to a source with knowledge of the sale process. eBay has hired Deutsche Bank to find the right buyer, says our source, but the asking price is unknown. It’s not certain that eBay will be able to sell it for the price they paid – In July StumbleUpon had 1.3 million worldwide visitors and 25 million page views. Source>  [...]

[...] we hear rumors that eBay is planning to sell StumbleUpon websites discovery tool after acquiring it for $75 [...]

stumbleupon referrers have dropped to about 25% of previous over the past 12 months. don’t know why. sites get around 25k visits/day.

GO Digg!

[...] for sale by eBay TechCrunch is reporting that Social networking and bookmarking site StumbleUpon.com is for sale by eBay which bought it [...]

eBay is crazy. StumbleUpon is the most valuable piece of data available to any search engine. I hope Google doesn’t finally get its hands on it.

SU is the best way to filter spam and provide search personalization available. Furthermore SU is a toolbar with widespread adoption, and toolbar users are by far the most valuable. It also has a smart revenue model.

I agree that eBay and SU aren’t a natural fit, but I still say its an extremely valuable property.

[...] TechCrunch] Social, Web [...]

[...] to Techcrunch’s Michael Arrington, eBay has hired Deutsche Bank to help find the right buyer. There is no doubt that StumbleUpon could find a better home – the [...]

[...] e-commerce giant eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) lately, as TechCrunch is now reporting that eBay is looking to dump another recent acquisition, [...]

Ebay Trying to Sell StumbleUpon? Never Made Sense to Me…

…

because Stumbleupon made the right move to sell – it tanked afterwards…duhhh

they do have a unique experience — even it is getting stale. hopefully whomever purchases them can inject some new ideas and innovation.

http://web-poet.com/2008/09/19/tripping-thumbs/

[...] to a TechCrunch article, in addition to laying off employees eBay has now hired Deutsche Bank to help it unload [...]

[...] e-commerce giant eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) lately, as TechCrunch is now reporting that eBay is looking to dump another current acquisition, [...]

Don’t know why they bought Skype? Bet you pay $79.99 per month for your copper wire phone service! I take my phone with me on my laptop and connect for pennies and use my business line where ever I am. Not to mention I dial in to their system when on my cell phone to reduce long distance charges. Best communication tool I know of since the cell phone and instant messaging!

At least theirs sounds a lot better than all those domain names that you own.

[...] TechCrunch is reporting that eBay has recruited Deutsche Bank in the hopes of finding a suitable buyer for StumbleUpon, the venerable website that allows its users to discover and rate Web pages, photos, and videos. [...]

Ebay shouldn’t bought SU at the first place, 2 different company with different marketing doesn’t make sense.

Perhaps a buy Skype get Stumbleupon free?

[...] An article in techcrunch says that eBay hired Deutsche Bank to take care of the sale, and that they are hoping they will help to land the “right buyer.” No known figures are out there regarding the asking price and it is up in the air as to whether they are going to be able to recoup their investment. My magic eight ball says “highly doubtful”. [...]

[...] as rosy as it once did, we think it only makes sense for eBay to sell it off again. According to TechCrunch, eBay has hired Deutsche Bank to find a buyer, though the asking price is not [...]

[...] Checkout: That Was Fun, But Now Ebay’s Selling Off StumbleUpon [...]

[...] That Was Fun, But Now Ebay’s Selling Off StumbleUpon [...]

[...] That Was Fun, But Now Ebay’s Selling Off StumbleUpon [...]

[...] That Was Fun, But Now Ebay’s Selling Off StumbleUpon [...]

[...] That Was Fun, But Now Ebay’s Selling Off StumbleUpon [...]

I think StumbleUpon is a great site and a great concept. The whole internet scene needs more Discovery rather than only Search.

Go StumbleUpon, whoever the owner will be. Anyway, in time of economic turmoil it won’t be easy to find a buyer quick unless ebay will accept a fairly low price, so SU management might take over… they just need to find a Private Equity fund to back them and make a Management Buy Out. I’d think about it if I were in their shoes.

[...] to a report in TechCrunch, eBay has hired Deutsche Bank to handle a sale of its Web site discovery service StumbleUpon, which [...]

[...] Sursa: TechSpot, TechCrunch [...]

[...] Read [...]

[...] Bestuursvoorzitter John Donahoe denkt er kennelijk hetzelfde over. Althans, volgens een bericht op Techcrunch.com heeft het bedrijf Deutsche Bank ingehuurd om de verkoop van StumbleUpon op te tuigen. [...]

[...] That Was Fun, But Now Ebay’s Selling Off StumbleUpon – Da bin ich mal gespannt ob, wer und zu welchem Preis da zugeschlagen wird. [...]

[...] 15:03 This news item was posted in News category and has 0 Comments so far. TechCrunch is reporting eBay is trying to unload StumbleUpon, citing “sources with knowledge of the sale process.” eBay is apparently using Deutsche [...]

[...] Ebay StumbleUpon dump, Good idea? TechCrunch is reporting that Ebay is working to Unload StumbleUpon…. The question is – is this a failed idea or failed execution? Was there any justification of the original idea of a major commerce site like Ebay owning and controlling a single "opinion influencer" (for lack of a better term) like StumpleUpon? "In May 2007 eBay acquired website recommendation engine StumbleUpon for $75 million. Now, less than a year and a half later, they�re trying to unload it according to a source with knowledge of the sale process. eBay has hired Deutsche Bank to find the right buyer, says our source, but the asking price is unknown." Full Story: That Was Fun, But Now Ebay’s Selling Off StumbleUpon [...]

Stumbleupon is losing ground and viewers because it’s nothing but stumbled blogs who are trying to get traffic money.

[...] That Was Fun, But Now Ebay’s Selling Off StumbleUpon Share and Enjoy: [...]

[...] wants to sell off its multi-million dollar misstep, StumbleUpon, before it costs them any more money. At least, [...]

[...] TechCrunch is reporting that eBay (EBAY) is looking for a buyer for StumbleUpon, the website that allows its users to discover and rate pages via a custom toolbar.  Why should you care?  Well, StumbleUpon has the capacity to drive huge amounts of targetted traffic to  your site.  If the site is being sold, the new owner may drastically change how SU works.  The time to act is now! [...]

StumbleUpon is a great tool

[...] engine StumbleUpon has been facing some tough times lately: earlier this month we reported that eBay was looking to sell the startup less than 18 months after acquiring it. And its traffic [...]

[...] Despite what appears to be a major step in the right direction for StumbleUpon, questions remain about the future of the company. This is due to the rumor that eBay, which bought the service in 2007 for $75 million, is now trying to sell it to another buyer. [...]

getting bored…too many repeats

[...] engine StumbleUpon has been facing some tough times lately: earlier this month we reported that eBay was looking to sell the startup less than 18 months after acquiring it (the company [...]

[...] on one of my favorite social networking sites. It also came as a shock since TechCrunch recently reported that Ebay showed their interest in selling [...]

[...] the middle of the month TechCrunch did the kind of investigative work that, let’s face it, no one in the tech blogosphere does better. [...]

[...] on one of my favorite social networking sites. It also came as a shock since TechCrunch recently reported that Ebay showed their interest in selling [...]

[...] to find a buyer for eBay’s StumbleUpon business, we’ve heard from new sources (we first reported on this on September 18). But there’s one problem: while eBay wants to unload the business, they [...]

[...] acquiring StumbeUpon for $75 million in May 2007, it seems eBay is now trying to sell the popular content discovery service. The rumours are they have difficulties in finding a buyer [...]

[...] TechCrunch noted when it reported of the sales rumors, StumbleUpon has six million registered users—but [...]

[...] the past few weeks, speculation has surfaced that StumbleUpon, a social media utility that was acquired by eBay in April 2007 for [...]

[...] eBay Inc. stumbled with another acquisition? TechCrunch is reporting that the online auction giant has hired Deutsche Bank to shop StumbleUpon, the Web site [...]

[...] e-commerce giant eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) lately, as TechCrunch is now reporting that eBay is looking to dump another recent acquisition, StumbleUpon.com. According to TechCrunch, eBay has hired Deutsche Bank to help the company [...]

[...] TechCrunch has initiated the rumors that eBay may be looking for a potential buyer for StumbleUpon (acquired for $75 million [...]

[...] engine StumbleUpon has been facing some tough times lately: earlier this month we reported that eBay was looking to sell the startup less than 18 months after acquiring it (the company [...]

My son was one of the three original owners and creators from Calgary. He was very pleased in that he thought about 50 mill was about the proper value at the time of the sale and that at 75 mill ebay was just throwing some of their money around.
Although he has been am employee of ebay since the sale as a major keyholder/administer he has no desire to re-purchase.
As much as the “Stumblers” hate to admit it Stumble Upon has stagnated and the original owners are clearly aware of that fact.

[...] to find a buyer for eBay’s StumbleUpon business, we’ve heard from new sources (we first reported on this on September 18). But there’s one problem: while eBay wants to unload the business, they [...]

good

hello

SU is easily the best social tool, largest traffic sender, and stupid proof. Any noob can use the toolbar, and noobs love toolbars.

SU has provided more amazing information, data, articles, games, documents, flash, so much stuff that would have been impossible to otherwise find.

Even though ebay owns it, and it has dropped in use, it still the most valuable social tool online.

~Doc

[...] TechCrunch reports a surge in traffic for LinkedIn thanks to heightened interest in building personal networks as well as job hunting opportunities in this market. [...]

Agreed. That’s the same reason I never used it. It’s the same reason I never used Pownce.

they definitely arent going to get all of their money back :S

[...] in September, we reported that eBay was attempting to sell off its stake in StumbleUpon, the website recommedation service it bought for $75 million in 2007. That [...]

[...] in September, we reported that eBay was attempting to sell off its stake in StumbleUpon, the website recommendation service it bought for $75 million in 2007. [...]

[...] in September, we reported that eBay was attempting to sell off its stake in StumbleUpon, the website recommendation service it bought for million in 2007. That [...]

[...] has spun itself out of eBay and is once again a startup, it announced today — this follows rumors last fall that eBay was looking to sell the [...]

[...] in September, we reported that eBay was attempting to sell off StumbleUpon, the website recommendation service it bought for $75 million in 2007. That [...]

[...] in September, we reported that eBay was attempting to sell off StumbleUpon, the website recommendation service it bought for $75 million in 2007. That [...]

[...] in September, we reported that eBay was attempting to sell off StumbleUpon, the website recommendation service it bought for $75 million in 2007. That [...]

[...] in September, we reported that eBay was attempting to sell off StumbleUpon, the website recommendation service it bought for $75 million in 2007. That [...]

[...] in September, we reported that eBay was attempting to sell off StumbleUpon, the website recommendation service it bought for $75 million in 2007. That [...]

[...] in September, we reported that eBay was attempting to sell off StumbleUpon, the website recommendation service it bought for million in 2007. That [...]

[...] to buy the company back from eBay and start over, they took it. The struggling eBay had been looking to sell off StumbleUpon for months, even hiring investment bank Deutsche Bank to help them get back their $75 million, but [...]

[...] to buy the company back from eBay and start over, they took it. The struggling eBay had been looking to sell off StumbleUpon for months, even hiring investment bank Deutsche Bank to help them get back their $75 million, but [...]

[...] in September, we reported that eBay was attempting to sell off StumbleUpon, the website recommendation service it bought for $75 million in 2007. That [...]

[...] to buy the company backwards from eBay and move over, they took it. The struggling eBay had been looking to delude soured StumbleUpon for months, modify hiring assets slope Deutsche Bank to support them intend backwards their $75 [...]

[...] you’ll recall, Stumbleupon was a service that got bought by eBay for $75 million, then sold back to its owners (check out this 2007 article predicting the “synergy” [...]

Very interesting post, I used Stumble for a while, but did not like it.

It looks like Stumble is on the way out but you wonder how many hours of work have been used to advance the betterment of the Stumble Universe. Stumble may be dropping in users but it will always a steady tool of information and laughter.

[...] eBay is selling off StumbleUpon.  And if you’re anything like me, you’re thinking, “Wait, eBay owns StumbleUpon?  Why?  What’s next, Skype?!? Oh, wait. . .”  I think the theory is that under eBay ownership, people might stumble upon more eBay auctions.  Not sure that ever happened, though. [...]

[...] What? The deal was announced on September 24. It’s been less than a month. Not even eBay throws away acquisitions that [...]

The news site claims Ebay has hired Deutsche Bank in hopes of stumbling upon a buyer, though the asking price remains unknown, and it’s anyone’s guess whether or not the auction site can get back what they invested in StumbleUpon. From July 2007 to July 2008, StumbleUpon has dropped from boasting 4.4 million worldwide visitors and 31 million page views to 1.1 million visitors and 25 million page views. Oddly enough, registered users continue to grow and now sits at over 6 million strong, a 20 percent increase over what it was just 5 months ago.

Stumble uon is a great site, I wouldn’t have got here with out it!

Michael, Stop spreading these rumours. Digg and Skype are still unsold. Now you are after stumbleupon. Wheres your magic touch gone..

It's really a great service