The pioneering online community The Well has been unofficially for sale for months. Now, Well president Maria Wilhelm is closing in on negotiations to buy it, sources close to the company report.
"Every indication is that it's going to happen soon," one source told Wired News on Thursday. "It sounds like the deal is in that stage like a house is in escrow - you're past the point of making an offer, but you've still got the final dotting of Is and crossing of Ts before it's over."
The purchase is alluded to in the May issue of Wired magazine, which lays out The Well's history from a single computer and handful of modems in 1985 to the fiery flame wars and soul-revealing exchanges that today characterize one of the most vibrant online communities in existence.
The Well itself has been rife with speculation about the impending changing of the guard, and rumors abound of money coming from everyone from Oracle CEO Larry Ellison to traditional venture capitalists. A topic in The Well's news conference called "What? The Well is for sale?" was started back in February and then immediately "retired" for being too speculative. It suddenly reappeared this week on grounds that the talk is now hot.
Wilhelm was in a meeting at press time and declined to comment last week, although she did tell Wired magazine writer Katie Hafner that, in February, Well owner Bruce Katz said he was willing to sell the business to her. Katz has not responded to repeated calls placed to his Sausalito, California, office over the past week, but several of his acquaintances report that he has spoken of selling The Well to Wilhelm. Terms have not been mentioned, although all sources believe the deal involves only The Well and not its sister companies, also held by Katz's Rosewood Stone Group.
Katz, who became sole owner of The Well in 1994, recently split off the ISP portion of the business into the Whole Earth Network and the Internet conferencing software business into Well Engaged. He has reportedly been anxious to get rid of The Well, as it apparently is no cash cow, and he has been continually derided by Well users for not being active in the community.
"The animosity between The Well community and Bruce Katz has been very bad," said former Well board member John Perry Barlow. "Anything would be better than what we've got," added the co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, saying Wilhelm's purchase would mark an improvement. "Maria understands The Well and its community."
Wilhelm, who joined The Well in 1996, is called everything from "sharp and savvy" to "machiavellian" by former co-workers at Time Inc., where she made an unprecedented rise from People magazine correspondent to deputy managing editor of Time Warner's Pathfinder site at its inception. For now, she remains mum about her plans for The Well.
