I saw the story on the Washington Post [rr], via Romenesko.

America Online Inc. yesterday agreed to buy Weblogs Inc., the publisher of 85 freelance online sites about cars, movies, parenting, travel and other subjects, the latest move by the Dulles-based Internet service to increase the size of its audience and profit from ads.

Officials of both companies declined to comment on the record about the price. A source familiar with the deal, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the transaction’s confidential terms, said that the base price was $15 million and that AOL could end up paying as much as $25 million if Weblogs hits every performance target in the future.

Jason Calcanis built the company, and had this to say to the Post:

“What makes this work is unfiltered citizens’ content,” Calacanis said of Weblogs. “My key question to America Online was, ‘Guys, you understand this is unfiltered and that is what makes this special?’ Traditional media companies are nervous about comments or opinions without editing. You don’t have that in this business. It is people talking to each other.”

“People talking to each other.” Sounds familiar. It is the future.