On Monday, founder Laurel Touby sold Mediabistro, the Web site serving freelance writers, editors, designers, and other media and creative professionals, for $23 million to Jupitermedia Corporation, an Internet research company that owns several media Web sites. Touby will stay on as Mediabistro’s senior vice president.
In a message posted yesterday on Mediabistro, Touby wrote that she believes the acquisition will help expand the site's reach, particularly in the area of conferences. Touby founded the media networking site in 1996; it features employment resources, information about educational seminars, a daily news feed, and the literary blog Galleycat.
Based in Darien, Connecticut, Jupitermedia is an online provider of digital images and content; the company owns the Web sites Internet.com, EarthWeb.com, Graphics.com, and others.
Calling Jupitermedia CEO Alan Meckler "a visionary," Touby wrote that the acquisition is "the beginning of a beautiful partnership."
