WordPress Traffic Passes TypePad, Execs Getting Rich?

WordPress is now the No. 2 most-visited blog host, passing rival SixApart's TypePad last month, according to the latest tally from Nielsen Online. WordPress-hosted sites drew 11.4 million unique visitors last month, representing 444% year-over-year growth, while TypePad-hosted sites drew 10.6 million uniques, up 20% year-over-year. Google's (GOOG) Blogger is still No. 1 with 34.1 million Oct. uniques. (Full list and stats after jump.)

In October, WordPress grew by 1 million uniques over September's 10.4 million, representing 9.6% month/month growth. Meanwhile, TypePad's traffic was flat month-to-month. Not yet in the top 10: David Karp's Tumblr, a slick, lightweight blogging platform that just got a major overhaul -- and its first round of funding.

Will WordPress execs cash in on their success? Last month, the word was that parent company Automattic was looking to sell for $150 million - $300 million. Now TechCrunch's Michael Arrington reports that Automattic will instead take another round of funding, as high as $50 million, with "most of it" supposedly going to execs selling shares, like founder Matt Mullenweg and chief executive Toni Schneider.

Related: WordPress Growing Like Crazy, On The Market?

Table 1: Top 10 Social Networking Sites for October 2007 (U.S., Home and Work) 

Please view in a fixed-width font such as Courier.
+-----------------------+----------+----------+----------------+
| Site                  |   Oct-06 |   Oct-07 | Percent Change |
|                       | UA (000) | UA (000) |                |
+-----------------------+----------+----------+----------------+
| Myspace.com           |   49,516 |   58,843 |            19% |
| Facebook              |    8,682 |   19,519 |           125% |
| Classmates Online     |   13,564 |   13,278 |            -2% |
| Windows Live Spaces   |    7,795 |   10,261 |            32% |
| AOL Hometown          |    9,298 |    7,923 |           -15% |
| LinkedIn              |    1,705 |    4,919 |           189% |
| AOL People Connection |    5,849 |    4,084 |           -30% |
| Reunion.com           |    4,723 |    4,082 |           -14% |
| Club Penguin          |    1,512 |    3,880 |           157% |
| Buzznet.com           |    1,104 |    2,397 |           117% |
+-----------------------+----------+----------+----------------+
Source: Nielsen Online

Table 2: Top 10 Blogs for October 2007 (U.S., Home and Work) 
Please view in a fixed-width font such as Courier.
+-------------------+----------+----------+-----------------+
| Site              |   Oct-06 |   Oct-07 |  Percent Change |
|                   | UA (000) | UA (000) |                 |
+-------------------+----------+----------+-----------------+
| Blogger           |   21,572 |   34,104 |             58% |
| WordPress.com     |    2,104 |   11,440 |            444% |
| Six Apart TypePad |    8,813 |   10,601 |             20% |
| tmz.com           |    7,107 |    7,805 |             10% |
| LiveJournal       |    3,366 |    4,260 |             27% |
| Xanga.com         |    4,760 |    2,741 |            -42% |
| Thatsfit          |     534* |    2,613 |            389% |
| Gizmodo           |     941* |    2,135 |            127% |
| Autoblog          |      920 |    1,949 |            112% |
| StyleDash         |    1,319 |    1,947 |             48% |
+-------------------+----------+----------+-----------------+
Source: Nielsen Online