Rafat Ali's Santa Monica-based paidContent.org, which has covered the business side of websites since 2002, will be acquired by Guardian Media Group in the U.K. for “north of $30 million.” Longtime tech reporter Kara Swisher beat Ali on the story. "We got scooped on the biggest story of our own company’s life. Such is our life," Ali posts. "This starts the 2.0 phase of our company ContentNext Media: we will remain a stand-alone business under [Guardian]."

