Google close to acquiring Digg for '$200m'

News aggregator site Digg is to be purchased by search giants Google at a price in the region of $200 million, according to technology blog techcrunch.com. The deal would see Digg become part of the Google News service.

Digg, launched in 2004 by a young group of American entrepeneurs, has become one of the most popular news websites, with users submitting stories and voting for other's submissions to appear in prominent positions on the site. Since its inception, Digg has branched out to include mainstream news alongside the tech stories which originally dominated the site.

The speculation comes after images surfaced online last week suggesting that Google was experimenting with using a similar voting system to that used by Digg in order to aggregate search results.

With Microsoft also rumoured to be interested in buying the company, the acquisition is likely to come under close scrutiny; Techcrunch reports that the majority of Digg's revenue comes from a three year advertising deal struck with Microsoft, which would be terminated should the company be sold to Google.