Mashable could be sold to CNN for $200 million, according to Reuters blogger Felix Salmon.
In a broadcast from South By South West, Salmon said that an unnamed source has told him that CNN will buy the social media news website for more than $200 million. According to Salmon's source, the news is expected to be released today, 12 March.
As Salmon says, Mashable is a consumer-oriented site, not an industry rag, so it could bring a new web-savvy audience to CNN.
Buy ups of tech titles has been popular lately. AOL, The Huffington Post's parent company, bought TechCrunch, SAY Media purchased ReadWriteWeb and GigaOm purchased PaidContent.
If CNN takes on Mashable, they could keep Pete Cashmore, who built the site from his bedroom in Scotland from nothing.
Cashmore now lives in New York, is a World Economic Forum 2011 Young Global Leader, was named one of Ad Age’s 2011 influencers and a Forbes magazine web celeb 25 according to his bio.
Cashmore could of course take his start-up attitude and build a killer competitor.
If the rumour is true, we'll find out later today.