Rumors are flying about Salon.com's potential sale, after TheDeal.com reported Wednesday that the site was open to takeover offers.
The story, which quoted anonymous Salon insiders and media bankers as well as CFO Robert O'Callahan, was reprinted on various media news sites.
But on Wednesday, Salon editor David Talbot responded to the rumor in a letter to Jim Romenesko's Media News site.
"I've never heard of 'The Deal' and I trust most of the world hasn't either," Talbot wrote. "But one of the awe-inspiring aspects of the Internet is how even the most obscure and unfounded 'news' reports can get instantly disseminated around the world, including on Jim Romenesko's excellent site."
According to Talbot, "This is the real deal: Salon is not for sale and we're not going out of business. We have not been shopping Salon. Period."
Salon stuck to its story on Friday. Patrick Hurley, senior VP of business operations at Salon, said the rumors were "completely false."
"Our CFO, Bob O'Callahan, was of course, sourced, but his answer was the standard pro forma response of any good CFO," Hurley wrote in an e-mail to Wired News. "The Deal then twists this into a headline that reads 'Slumping Salon.com to consider sale,'as if we're proactive about it."
"It's these very sweeping, damning comments by sources supposedly in the know that strangely go un-named. Stranger still because they're flat out misinformed," Hurley wrote.
Nevertheless, the rumors highlight the fact that Salon has been in dire straits for some time. Over the past several months, the company has suffered through a period of belt-tightening, including layoffs and pay cuts.
Earlier this week, Salon said that it would be introducing a new "premium" subscription service next month, along with a new CNET-style advertising model.
For $30 a year, readers can enjoy Salon ad-free, along with as-yet unspecified bonus content. For others, Salon will remain free, but with new, large-format ads, which will be inserted directly into the text.
