Forbes may acquire social bookmarking site Clipmarks

VentureBeat reported this evening that "an inside source" had informed them that Forbes Magazine--home publication of the now-outed Fake Steve Jobs--has acquired Clipmarks, a New York-based start-up that allows users to share snippets and bits of Web pages rather than simply a hyperlink or an entire article. This is done through a downloadable browser plug-in that enables "highlighting" up to a certain amount of text on a site.

A look at Clipmarks' downloadable 'highlighting' features.

(Credit: Clipmarks)

No financial details were provided, but VentureBeat's Eric Eldon wrote that "Forbes finds the service useful for helping their reporters collect and share information about articles they are reading--and you may soon be seeing Clipmarks used in their stories and blogposts. They'll clip something, and then blog something quickly around it."

Clipmarks representatives were quick to respond to the rumors, and they were strikingly candid. Founder Eric Goldstein addressed the matter (how else?) by "clipping" it and then commenting on the shared text to clarify: "This article is a bit premature," Goldstein wrote. "We have not been acquired by Forbes. However, for the past few months we have been meeting with people at all levels of Forbes and the excitement and support they have shown for what we're creating has been very meaningful to us."

But don't count an acquisition out just yet, Goldstein hinted: "In the coming weeks i hope/expect to have a more definitive announcement about our relationship." Meanwhile, Clipmarks evangelist Eric Skiff had this to say in his Twitter feed: "Wow! I go away on vacation for a few days, and our big news leaks!...Clipmarks + Forbes = <3."

Keep an eye on this one.