Congratulations to Rafat Ali for a nice exit. Rafat started paidContent.org six years ago, and has kept a consistent watch on the goings on across digital media. Today, Rafat writes about the sale to Guardian News & Media, the news media division of UK-based Guardian Media Group.Kara Swisher today is reporting that paidContent was purchased for north of $30 million, which includes an earnout.

As part of the acquisition, paidContent, which is owned by ContentNext, will be part of Guardian Professional group, the B2B media division for GNM. Larry Kramer, founder of CBS MarketWatch, and my former boss, is on ContentNext's board. He hired Nathan Richardson, a former colleague of mine at Dow Jones MarketWatch, to be the CEO.