Conan O'Brien buys Mashable for $3,500 (Welcome to April Fool's Day)

With a tweet just minutes after midnight on April 1, Conan O'Brien announced that he had purchased Mashable.com from Pete Cashmore for just $3,500.



Conan had this to say on a post on his new website:

I’m sick and tired of scanning the Internet looking for any news about technology: Devices, gadgets, what’s coming up, maybe even a rating system for gadgets that are out there. It doesn’t exist on the web and it’s high time it did. 

I go to the Mashable see the atrocious job they’re doing. So I decided it’s time for me to take it over. 

That’s why, several hours ago, I called Pete Cashmore and I told him, “You’re out! Get out! You’re through Cashmore! Through! Get out!” 

Of course, keep in mind, I was screaming “Get out” from a phone call and he was speaking at home…So it wasn’t clear what I was throwing him out of. We straightened that out. 

He said, “You’ll have to buy me out.” I said, “Buy you out? How about thirty-five hundred smackeroos?” He didn’t know what smackeroos were, but we talked again. 

There’s going to be a lot of changes around here. So stay tuned, cause I’m in charge now. I’m going to be sending out a lot of tweets!

Not counting Google's introduction of an 8-bit version of Google Maps for Ninendo on Saturday (which wasn't April 1), it looks like this Conan/Mashable bit is the opening fire for April Fool's Day 2012.

UPDATE: Take that, Apple ninjas — as one of his first acts as new Mashable CEO, Conan broke into Apple headquarters and stole the prototype of the new iTV.



UPDATE 2: Looks like Conan is no longer the CEO of Mashable.

Conan O’Brien has learned that, due to an unfortunate misunderstanding, he did not buy Mashable and oust CEO Pete Cashmore. Instead, he purchased a Mash TV fan site. He regrets the error and is returning Mashable to Pete Cashmore’s control.

I honestly looked at Mashable more today during Conan's reign than I ever had previously. Oh well ...