Digg's CEO shoots down 'bidding war' rumors

Social news site Digg, a perpetual target of acquisition rumors, normally addresses the "is _____ buying you?" questions with a "no comment" answer. Not this time.

Jay Adelson, the company's CEO, posted a blog entry on Friday in response to a rampant rumor that Microsoft, Google, and two major media companies were placing bids on the hot start-up's price tag. A sizeable number of avid Digg users were thrown into panic mode over the prospect of a corporate parent. Adelson appeared to deny the rumors outright.

"Normally our policy is to not comment about things like this," Adelson wrote, "but this morning's rumors about a bidding war involving Google and Microsoft have created such a stir we feel compelled to tell you all directly that they are completely inaccurate."

He continued: "Sorry to burst any drama theories, but they aren't true. We remain focused on improving Digg and rolling out great features."

But Adelson could be acting a bit cagey here. The original report on TechCrunch never mentioned a "bidding war" per se, just that four companies were in the running to acquire the company. The "bidding war" phrase in Adelson's post could have referred to embellished rumors and speculation that subsequently floated about the Web. I've e-mailed Adelson to ask him to clarify whether he's willing to debunk the entire contents of the post.

I'll update this when I have a response.