DivShare says it’s for sale but not dead

DivShare, a site for uploading and sharing video, music, photos, and documents, recently put itself up for sale on a forum that specializes in high-priced domain names. The move drew attention, because putting yourself up for sale usually means you’re ready to throw in the towel.

What follows is a Q&A with DivShare co-founder, David Altschul, who explains why he made the move.

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VB: So what’s going on here?
DA: Well the site is for sale, but not for the reasons [Mike] Arrington suggests. This isn’t last ditch, and we’re profitable. It’s funny how TechCrunch thinks it’s a bad thing, or that the company is going to fall apart.

VB: So why are you for sale?
DA: We feel the product is complete, and we want to find a company that can help support [its] growth and keep ahead of it, which has been our problem for a little while now. We’ve talked to investors that are interested, but now there’s other projects we want to pursue and make sure DivShare has a proper home first.”

VB: Why not post the news on your company blog?
DA: Well, the sale was originally intended to be private, not because we’re trying to hide it from users, but because most buyers want confidentiality. [This is] why I didn’t originally comment on it.

VB: Admittedly, posting on a forum is a slightly strange way to go about a sale.
DA: That’s another misconception. [DNForum] is a legitimate forum where buyers in our price range are located. It’s a professional forum that I pay to be a part of, and our business broker handles the sale from there. I was simply reaching out to those in our price range so we can make sure we have the right owner. Unfortunately, every site doesn’t sell for hundreds of millions of dollars.

VB: Have you had any interest from potential buyers?
DA: Let’s just say I’ve been on my blackberry all day. Quite a bit of interest. So to [Mike] Arrington’s claim that we’re DeadPool…I wish he could see just how many companies have expressed interest.

VB: I recently saw some stuff about your [Flash-based] document viewer having problems. Is that resolved?
DA: Yeah, there may have been a few that didn’t convert properly, but the process is running smoothly now. Documents will take a few minutes to convert, but can take longer if there’s a big back-up.

VB: What’s your price range, by the way?
DA: Unfortunately, that’s confidential.