Impending sale for jkOnTheRun
The big news this week is the impending sale of tech site Ars Technica to Conde Nast for $25 million. Ars has been one of the top tech sites for years and it’s great to see a big company put so much value on what they do. That said, we are happy to announce that we are on the table for a potential sale too. Thinking about this big sale has led us to realize that we hold a ton of value to a potential suitor and we’re ready to kick off that process. We bring a lot of value to the table and we’re ready to entertain offers from anybody.
Why should suitors be interested? To start with a buyer of jkOnTheRun will get a top tech site that has been a CNET Top 100 Tech Blog for several years. Given the big sale of CNET this week I guess you could say that we’re considered one of the best Tech sites by CBS, and that’s got some real street cred. A buyer of jkOTR also gets Kevin C. Tofel and James Kendrick, two of the best-looking geeks in the tech world on top of being two of the best writers on the tech beat today. Just compare photos of either one with a photo of Walt Mossberg and you’ll see the value in that statement. With wit and talent the writing team of jkOTR cover all areas of the technology sector and are read by many daily. Why just today the writings of the two are on the front page of both Engadget and Gizmodo, two other tech sites you may have heard of.
So what is jkOnTheRun worth? We’re thinking in the neighborhood of $10 million. After all you get what you pay for and you’re paying for the best. Well second best if you consider the pricing of the Ars Technica deal. But for any serious prospective buyers there is a special deal starting today:
What a deal! We’ll throw in jkOnTheRun coffee mugs and mouse pads too! So don’t delay, get your offer in via email to James Kendrick by clicking on his cartoon head (also included) in the right sidebar. He’ll make sure that Kevin gets his half, honest.
With the amount of tech gear you NEED to buy, don’t you think $15M would be a more appropriate price…
Hey, we don’t want to be greedy about this.
Wonderful. Wonderful!
Two mil used to be an unspeakable pile of cash, but if you had only offered this deal one year ago, I’m sure that I could have found ready subprime home-equity financing for the purchase.
But does the purchase allow the purchaser to get his/her hands on all the goodies that circulate thru the JKOTR empire…at least for a couple of days?
You seem to be a lot readier to deal than Yahoo, so maybe Microsoft will zoom in.
GOOD LUCK!!
Any purchaser putting up $2M or more certainly gets the use of any gear we handle. Heck, they’ll get our kids indentured servitude for that kind of money.
awesome, so i guess the next logical question is do you all have any hot daughters?
I tried clicking on the purchase link above several times but was never directed to a checkout option where I could process my payment and complete the transaction. Upon further review, I realized that the image shown in your post probably came from a screenshot of an Ebay auction, but despite several minutes of trying well thought out queries on Ebay, I was unable to find your auction.
What gives? Are you trying to defraud the investing public?
I for one had already repositioned my assets in preparation for this acquisition. Moreover, I was another party in contention for the Ars sale, but when I learned that your site would be made available I decided to focus my efforts here instead. Thus, in addition to suffering at the hands of your fraudulent sale, you have also cost me damages in the the form of lost opportunity.
All the mouse pads in the well cannot pacify my fury.
I certainly hope that this is not some sort of prank. As a non-native speaker, I am not always aware of your cultural cues and would neither find this funny nor fair. (Don’t get me wrong, English is my first language, I just mean that I wasn’t able not natively able to speak it. It took me several years to develop fluency.)
I’ll trade you a six month old Eee Pc and a slightly used Nintendo Wii. I’m pretty firm on this offer, though, I may be swayed if you’re willing to throw in some cash.
What do you say? Do we have a deal. I’ll give you a couple of days to think it over.
If I use ‘Buy it Now’ today, can you please send me your site to my sister’s apartment in New Jersey, as I’m in Nigeria and cannot leave right now.
Please send me your bank account info so that I can transfer the $2M to your account.
Thanks!
Yeah.. right. Okay, two technology writers, both with previous and in one case still existing high-profile careers, began a tech blog, funding it heavily out of their own cash, partly to escape from the inpersonal corporate world where all that counts is hard cash.. and those two writers are ready to cash-out and make a few million dollars in the process?
Come on people, this is a hoax if ever there was one.
I’ll take it but you’ll both have to move to Australia.
the swag is included? How can i not pick it up at that cost, if the swag comes with it.
Let me tell you in all seriousness, James, that if that ever happened, I’d stop reading.
Wait, why does Kevin get half? He didn’t use mobile devices when they weighed thirty pounds, unless you’re talking about his mountain bike.
Not that he doesn’t deserve something for having his mug on a mug and scraped over by mouse until his features look, well, you know.
But between the used Eee and the Nigerian, I’m looking forward to watching the bidding war. Is this how Murdoch started? We’ll know something’s up if jkOnTheRun starts reviewing ball point pens and napkins as mobile technology.
the sad fact is this is a serious inquiry wrapped up in a humorous article. but think about it, why even go through the trouble of writing an article this lengthly for no reason whatsoever. this is how you “test” the waters disguised in humor.
it’s hard to blame them, the chance of a big pay day is appealing to anyone. but this is were the small minded fall & the great rise, the small sell quick get relatively little value & futures become that of string puppets for the corporate owners influence. the great hold out get more money, keep their own influence & dont have their strings pulled by corporate.
I think you guys are worth it
unfortunately I’m out of cash, but I must say that the amount of ‘mind-share ‘that you hold is worth the price tag (and the schwag doesn’t hurt either)…here’s hoping the people that buy jkotr don’t start messing with the content, unless its in the form of buying more gadgets for you guys to review, and maybe turning MOTR into a bi-weekly cast 
@mike cane – really? I think if James and Kev stay autonomous like engadget, then all should be well. And anyway, as much as I like jkotr the way it is now, I’d be equally happy if they got bought out and got to retire comfortably…they deserve that for entertaining/informing a whole lot of people. *gets off soap-box*
Wow, it seems to me that millions are growing wild in the trees north of me in a less hotter climate!
Interesting way to test the waters. Good luck with that.. I know you mentioned a few months ago you wanted out of your current job and into some full time tech writing position. Hopefully you can find a place where you are happy!
My question is WHY??? and WHAT IS NEXT??
I have camel, is enough for the Lee-till blond one?
Will take coffee cup too.
anyone getting this for 2 mil gets a real good bargain, even with all the terms and fine print, which I’m sure (hope) you’ve built in to keep this format and value to us readers, as well conflict of interest free, etc. etc. etc.
Damn, April Fool’s Day came back early…
HA!
let me guess “cola cooa” is so far the highest bidder.
Oops! I hit the buy-it-now twice. But wait! Looks like eBay pulled the auction. Apparently, they equated selling JKOTR with selling a kidney.
Other purchasers of JKOTR have also purchased:
1. Kotex
2. Jackie Martling “What, Me Worry?”
3. Welcome back Kotter DVD Set