Blog site that is popular in Russia is sold

By Eric Auchard

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - LiveJournal, the personal Web publishing service that jump-started blogging in Russia, has been sold by its U.S. owner to a Russian business partner, which will operate it independently, the companies said on Sunday.

Six Apart Ltd said it sold the blog community site for undisclosed terms to SUP, a Russian-focused Internet media company led by an American and British duo that has expanded LiveJournal's Russian business over the past year.

The free, ad-supported blog site encourages users to keep online diaries they share and discuss with friends. It counts 14.3 million blog accounts and roughly 20 million visitors a month. Its writers publish more than 150,000 new posts a day.

"The deal will allow LiveJournal to get the attention, and frankly, the investment, to allow it to flourish," Andrew Paulson, SUP's chief executive, said in a phone interview.

Six Apart CEO Chris Alden said his company will focus on three properties it has created in-house: the widely used MovableType blog software, the TypePad blog hosting service and Vox, a blogging service aimed at less-technical users.

SUP (http://www.sup.com/en/) said it is forming a new San Francisco-based company, LiveJournal Inc, to operate the service globally.

Alden said Six Apart will continue to partner with LiveJournal Inc, by supplying advertising and other services.

San Francisco-based Six Apart acquired LiveJournal in 2005 from its founder, Brad Fitzpatrick, who created the software in 1999 while a student at the University of Washington as a way for his friends to stay up-to-date on his latest Web postings.