Texas-based technology site The Daily Dot has acquired London-based site The Kernel.
The Kernel’s founder Milo Yiannopoulos is stepping down from his role as editor-in-chief, and will stay in an advisory capacity to oversee the takeover. All other staff are to remain in their previous roles.
In a piece for the Kernel he said: “Sooner or later, it was inevitable that the two companies would discuss pooling their resources, sharing what they had learned with one another and becoming, through the combination of their expertise, more than the sum of their parts.”
In the short term the two sites will remain distinct, nut Yiannopoulos said they may merge in the future.
Following the handover Yiannopoulos has said he may take six months off to complete a book about Silicon Valley which is “75 per cent written” and has already attracted offers from publishers.
Originally launched in November of 2011, The Kernel collapsed in March of last year after failing to pay its staff. After settlements in which Yiannopoulos paid £24,000 to six freelancers and employees the website relaunched in August.
At the time Yiannopoulos told Press Gazette he wanted the site to be “The Spectator or the Economist of tech”, though he emphasised “a broader remit, looking at the place of technology in space, sex, death, money, and so on”.
At present The Kernel claims to attract 500,000 unique visitors a month, with 60 per cent of traffic coming from the US, 20 per cent from the UK and the remainder from the rest of the world.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
