You have to be fucking kidding me. How could BusinessWeek be so irresponsible as to write the most blatant of lies on the cover of their magazine?
How it happened:
1. People “in the know” estimate Digg’s worth at $200 million
2. Kevin owns approximately 30-40% of that imaginary figure
3. 30% of that imaginary figure equates to $60 million of imaginary money
Sure sounds like he made $60 million in 18 months to me….
Who This Really Affects
I left a comment at JF’s blog saying that this cover is unfortunate for a number of reasons, and in my mind the #1 problem is that it now puts unrealistic expectations into the minds of young entrepreneurs scraping it out in their college dormrooms or studio apartments. I know my parents will see this cover and immediately take it at face value, then turn around and ask me where my $60 million is, or ask if Digg is similar to 9rules, or any other host of questions. I could explain to them why he didn’t actually make any money yet (“We have a clear path toward becoming a profitable company.” -Kevin Rose) and it’s a simple bubble extrapolation but none of that will matter because the dollar signs will already be in their mind. Absolutely fucking worthless journalism.
