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Gawker Media
continues to rejigger and has sold Consumerist.com to Consumer Reports publisher
Consumers Union. Terms weren't disclosed. Consumerist.com will be the first
property housed under the non-profit Consumer Media LLC entity, and per Consumer
Reports' policy, won't accept advertising in an effort to remain unbiased, the
buyer said in a statement Wednesday.
The deal is effective Jan. 1. Gawker
launched Consumerist.com three years ago and the site boasts 10 million page
views per month. Gawker has been retooling of late, with a round of layoffs in
October coupled with bonus slashing and new-hire plans for its most popular
sites. Gawker has sold Wonkette and Gridskipper this year, the New York Times noted, adding that Consumerist.com went on the block as it was announced Valleywag would be
shuttered. Consumer Reports, meanwhile, says it has
more than doubled its newsstand sales in the last six years to 190,000 and calls
ConsumerReports.org the largest paid-subscriber site in the world with 3.3
million. -- Carolyn Murphy
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Definitely good compared to the Consumerist going away. However, I'm personally concerned about this purchase.
I operate TrueDelta.com, which provides vehicle reliability information. Our information has two large advantages over that of Consumer Reports:
1. Report actual repair rates, not just vague dots, to make the differences between models much clearer.
2. Results promptly updated four times a year; so our information averages about ten months ahead of CR's.
But, since we're a competitor, you'll never see CR mention our information, and I'm not allowed to mention my site in their forums--even when I have information that they cannot provide. Now that they've bought the Consumerist, I suspect the same will be true for it.