Interesting line in PandoDaily’s article a couple of days ago about TechCrunch – “Kara Swisher was kicking some tires [about buying TechCrunch] to add the brands to the expanding All Things D franchise.”
Then a full retraction yesterday:
There’s only one part of yesterday’s story that I regret, and that’s mentioning Kara Swisher as a possible buyer. That was my screw up. Sarah didn’t want to put it in, because Swisher hadn’t responded to her attempts to contact her for confirmation. I had heard the “tire kicking” rumour from someone who was in a position to know, and so I felt it important to include Swisher in the paragraph speculating on possible buyers. When Swisher and Sarah finally spoke, Swisher flatly denied the suggestion, adding that her statements about wanting to buy TechCrunch had been just a joke.
Kara’s tweets on the first story:
I founded TechCrunch, so my interest level in hearing the truth about anyone trying to buy it is high. So I called a few people to track down where the story came from.
And here’s what I found. Swisher contacted multiple TechCrunch employees, AOL executives and others about buying TechCrunch earlier this year. She definitely had a “ha ha” attitude about it, but said that Tim Armstrong had personally reached out to her about buying TechCrunch, that “It’s not getting sold for real money,” and that she wanted to know how the writers would, ha ha, feel about her taking over.
Her relationship with News Corp. is less than perfect and, say multiple sources, News Corp. vetoed her attempt to staff up big after the TechCrunch disintegration late last year, to fill that void. Her contract with News Corp. is up in 2013, she hasn’t been happy with that relationship and is looking for a way to move on, say sources who spoke with her.
Hilarious.
Uncrunched 
I don’t get it. How would Ms. Swisher purchase it? She has said on Twitter (both in your post and to me) that she doesn’t have the money to make the deal. There’s no mention of her going to seek the money either.
She apparently thought it would be very inexpensive. see the post.
OK, I see. Interesting. Thanks.
How am I not involved in this drama!??!?!?! :-p
You need to do a publicity stunt where you offer to buy Techcrunch — perhaps a dramatic public gesture of some sort.
Kara’s wife is a senior vp at google, and was there pretty early.
Good point. And she always talks about her personal family money too.
Thank you for telling us the truth on this matter. It would be unfair for Paul Carr to be tarnished for his story when clearly Kara Swisher had enough interest in purchasing Techcrunch to have contacted Armstrong!
I think Eric Eldon and the rest of the TechCrunch team is doing a great job preserving the legacy. I could see how the mockery could be upsetting. Before bringing on a big team, you and Marshall built a brand strong enough that could last for decades between 2005 and 2006. Not an easy task at all.
Mike, what I find most interesting is why you are interested in who might buy it – pure nostalgia?
Interesting look