News-sharing service Digg has been sold for a reported $500,000 to startup incubator firm Betaworks.

The company said that it would be taking the Digg brand and assets and combining them with the team from News.me, a mobile news-sharing platform also be run by Betaworks.

"Digg is one of the great internet brands, and it has meant a great deal to millions of users over the years. It was a pioneer in community-driven news," betaworks said.

"We are turning Digg back into a startup. Low budget, small team, fast cycles."

While no financial details on the deal were given, the Wall Street Journal cited multiple sources familiar with the matter in reporting that the deal was worth just $500,000. A subsequent report from the New York Times also suggested that Digg will receive "several million dollars" in Betaworks equity as part of the deal.

Both figures would represent a sharp decline from Digg's value in its heyday. Once considered to be one of the fastest-growing companies in the technology sector, Digg and its founder Kevin Rose were held up as icons of the Web 2.0 era.

V3.co.uk