The fact that you think there is not means that you're just a poser pretending to be in the know. A party like Conde Nast may not be popular with the reddit crowd but to pretend they're just a bunch of clowns that would be swayed by a jerk move like this is simply stupid. If you think that there is no protocol to buying a business of this size try to take over even a very small website by announcing publicly that you are 'in talks' before receiving your first answer. Then you can tell me how well it worked.
> Conde Nast just embarrassed themselves with a large portion of their customers, and not just the ones at reddit.
Not really, Conde Nast has different priorities than reddit. This is unfortunate for reddit but then they should have done better research on who they were selling to. They differ in opinion on a lot of things, I would call it a 'rocky marriage' at least and possibly there are by now grounds for divorce. But overall I think the reddit guys have been creative enough to work their way around the rough edges and Conde Nast has behaved like a rather reluctant parent. It reminds me very much of the winamp takeover by AOL.
> Cheezeburger guy jumps in with a brilliant move,
What's brilliant about it? Offering to buy them out? If figure that if you're serious about something like that you go about it the diplomatic way, not the cowboy way. Unless of course you don't really want a deal.
But, maybe pigs can fly, and maybe you are right. But I highly doubt it.
I get approached on average 3 times per year to 'sell my company', I can tell just by the way in which I'm approached if someone is serious or not. And even if they are serious, we usually just end up chatting for a bit and then we both go our ways. If such a party would announce their intent in the media before sounding me out they might as well forget about approaching, especially if they're not nearly as well known as either the acquisition target or the seller. Then it looks like they're trying to gain publicity over my back.
> and you question protocol and additionally seem upset if he's not actually expecting them to sell to him.
Yep. It wastes bandwidth and gives this guy airtime that he shouldn't have. Unless, of course he really is serious and just hasn't figured out how to handle a situation like this. But as it is it just looks like a rather stupid ploy to get their attention in a negative way. The redditors (the subject of the sale here) must be wondering right now if it would be possible to find an even worse buyer than CN.
> And hardly an anonymous coward here, just following corporate protocol of our culture and keeping my job.
That's what I said. So you don't stand by your words after all. Just imagine your boss would read your writings, you might want to delete them, right? And your job is in M&A?