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With the sale of its online journal service, LiveJournal, announced Sunday, blogging firm Six Apart Ltd. can focus its resources on its three other blogging platforms. San Francisco-based Six Apart sold LiveJournal to Russia online media firm SUP (pronounced "soup"). Terms were not disclosed, but Six Apart chairman and CEO Christopher Alden said the sale price was more than what his company paid for the property when it acquired it in January 2005. LiveJournal provides a publishing platform for individuals to post information about their lives and share it with others. It has become increasing popular in Russia, where the absence of an independent media has led to increased publishing by individuals. Six Apart and SUP struck a licensing agreement in October 2006 in which Six Apart helped support and develop the Russian segment of LiveJournal, which now represents 28% of its monthly audience. "Blogging is a dynamic medium and requires a lot of innovation, so we looked at the need to invest in and grow our core products," said Alden, who took Six Apart's helm in September. "LiveJournal now has an owner that will invest tens of millions of dollars and devote more attention and money to it." Andrew Paulson, CEO of Moscow-based SUP, said with Six Apart not devoting most of its resources towards LiveJournal, it risked losing its spot as the preeminent blog publishing platform in Russia. Paulson said SUP plans to build the service's Russian operation and expand it to make it more of a worldwide operation. "We developed confidence in ourselves to run this asset and simply saw a great opportunity that was not being fully exploited," Paulson said. Despite some concerns in the blogosphere about privacy now that a Russian company runs LiveJournal, Paulson said LiveJournal would remain incorporated in the U.S. and assemble an advisory board to assist it on security and privacy matters. Six Apart is left with three publishing platforms, including its Vox personal blogging service; TypePad, used by blogging professionals and small businesses; and Movable Type, used predominantly by enterprises. The company faces intense competition from rival Automattic Inc. of San Francisco, which operates blog publishing service WordPress. Ashkan Karbasfrooshan, president of WatchMojo.com, a blog that covers advertising, finance and technology, said with Six Apart in a dogfight with Automattic, it was logical for the company to unload a consumer-focused operation. "Six Apart has seen WordPress come out of nowhere as an open source alternative to either surpass them or give them a run for their money," he said. "This lets them focus on Movable Type and TypePad, which are their premium products anyway." Though both Six Apart and Automattic have been mentioned as potential buyout candidates, Alden said he's under no pressure from the company's investors to seek a sale or other exit strategy. He said the company is close to profitability, but is continuing to invest funds in expanding the business. "We're not in the process of selling the company or selling any of our other products," he said. "We're in the process of gearing up for a successful 2008 with more funds to do that."  Deal Video
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