A source tells us that the site's founder, who's never taken funding and brags on the Newgrounds "about page" that "we're still 100 percent independent and love what we do," is said to be happy collecting "millions" in revenue and is uninterested in a sale. According to Quantcast, Newgrounds sees about 1.5 million monthly uniques.

Hearst today announced that they have finalized a two-year deal to buy UGO Networks outright. While the details of the deal were not released, Forbes estimates the deal to "be in the neighborhood of $100 million."

No word yet on what Hearst plans to do with the internet info network, but they sound genuinely jazzed:

With this acquisition, Hearst will gain, according to Ganzi, "one of the most popular men's lifestyle brands on the Web. UGO.com, the flagship Web site, is a first-stop destination for the latest news and content on games, movies, television, film, DVDs, music, sports, women and comic books." With an audience of over 11 million unique visitors in the U.S. and nearly 28 million worldwide, UGO reaches one in 10 online users in the highly coveted male 18-to-34-year-old demographic. UGO is entirely supported by advertising revenue and specializes in effective and customized advertising for blue-chip brands.

I can't help but wonder if Hearst thinks they bought IGN.

Hearst Corporation to Acquire UGO Networks [Business Wire]

"Cheat maniac," formerly of Ziff Davis, now of IGN, is a notorious shtupper. Yes, he's married, and yes, he still diddled at least three separate salesladies at the Ziff Games Group. And yes, he was married at the time.

Send your guesses to tips@valleywag.com, or drop 'em in the comments.

Earlier: ConFonz at the Game Marketing Conference: gamers vs. little old ladies [Valleywag]

Remember, these are the same people that told you John Romero is going to make you his bitch.

The Game Marketing Conference took place behind Sega's San Francisco offices on Wednesday and Thursday. It's strange being here because a double digit percentage of the folks here have fired me (There's yer only clue!)

One highlight, however, was watching the faces on the various media sales people's faces when Doug Scott, EA's director of entertainment marketing, said that he felt 50% of EA"s marketing budget should be spent on non-traditional (read non-print/non-banner) marketing. The room chuckled a bit, then shifted uncomfortably, as the Ziff Davis and IGN people collectively shit themselves.

The highlights of the event were twofold: first, as soon as the 600 Townsend-hosted event was over at 5 PM, the little old lady's auxiliary showed up to host an art opening for the Norwegian design exhibit in the lobby. They carted in cases of 2-buck-chuck and hassled the conference attendees, demanding that they remove themselves from the premises immediately. Sean, VP of Kohnke Communications, was threatening to beat the living shit out of the old bags, but relented when it came time to head across the street to the Khonke-hosted I-Play party at the Mars Bar.

In Part II, ConFonz drops the party gossip.

Game Marketing Conference [The Game Initiative]