Phenquestions
TLDR; Softonic acquired ghacks.net. I remain editor of the site and all writers remain on board. We have full editorial control over the content and articles will be published just like before. Ghacks remains Ghacks.
When I started Ghacks.net back in 2005 I never thought about the possibility that it could become a highly respected well visited technology news website. I wanted to share my findings and information, and it happened almost by accident that the site came to some popularity weeks after I set it up.
I quit my day job to start working on the site full-time in late 2006 and never looked back. Almost 15 years is a very long time for a site on the Internet, and especially once that is run by an individual without the backing of an organization or team.
I worked on the site seven days a week, even when I was on holiday, and stayed awake plenty of nights trying to figure out display errors and other site issues.
Fiddling around with technology was always my passion and writing about things that interested me came naturally. In the past couple of years, I noticed that administrative tasks would consume more and more of my time, sometimes more than writing and researching did.
There were new regulations, e.g. the EU cookie law and GDPR that caused sleepless nights. The changing advertising landscape did not help either, and the desire grew to go back to the roots and focus my efforts on the researching and writing part again.
Softonic contacted me about a potential partnership and talks evolved quickly to a potential sale of the site with me and the other writers staying on as staff. We came to terms quickly as Softonic met all my requirements for a sale of the site.
I remain editor on Ghacks and publish articles just like before. Ashwin and Mike continue to write articles for the site as well and everything in that regard stays just like before. We have full editorial control over the articles and you can expect the same level of quality, if not better…
Softonic takes over many of the administrative tasks including managing the domain and hosting, advertisement, and communication with partners.
It was not an easy decision but in the end, it was the right one. I can focus on what I want to do - write and fiddle around with tech - and Ghacks' future is secured.
Feel free to leave a comment below or use the contacts option of this site to get in touch with me.
