Avid Life Media, the parent company of esteemed web properties like HotorNot.com, Mancrunch and married-people dating site Ashley Madison, has put in a $20m bid for PerezHilton.com, Gawker has verified .
The company, who is said to have paid roughly the same amount for HotorNot.com in 2008, has teamed up with celebrity bloggers Zack Taylor (zacktaylor.ca) and Nik Richie ( TheDirty.com )- sending a Letter of Intent with the $20m offer. ($18m up front and $2m in escrow for the next year.)
The offer, presented by “Avid Life subsidiary Eight Days Inc., along with Zack Taylor and Dirty World LLC,” seems to suggest Perez may not be as involved with day to day operations of the site as he may be now- Gawker quotes the letter:
The letter states that “The Purchaser presently intends to continue, in the normal course, the employment of all employees of the Business from and after the Closing Date.” But it also says that following the purchase, Zack Taylor and Nik Richie “will operate the business.” It’s our understanding that the intention is to use the PerezHilton.com address as a sort of massive traffic-forwarding address to a new gossip site run by Taylor and Richie.
Gawker asked what Perez’s future involvement with the site might be if he accepts the offer, but Avid Life spokesperson Steph Davidson said she could not comment because she didn’t know for sure what the celebrity blogger’s role would be if the bid is accepted.
Perez hasn’t commented on the offer yet or whether he intends on taking it. PerezHilton.com was valued at $32m last year, but $20m is a tremendous incentive for Perez to cash out and move on.
