Digg Founder Kevin Rose may have reached the end of his patience when it comes to his problematic product, according to statements made at TechCrunch's Disrupt event today.

Rose stated that he had wanted to accept an $80 million acquisition offer made during a high point in the site's popularity and traffic, but the Digg board turned the offer down. (Though exact details remain officially unconfirmed, we're guessing this offer was a 2008 near-deal with Google.)

To say that the company has had a rocky year would be a huge understatement.

The launch of "New Digg," the fourth major iteration of the site and the first real set of new features in three years, should have been a triumph; but user dissatisfaction turned it into a disaster. Traffic has been slumping steadily, staff members have been laid off and there's a revolving door just for the company's CEOs (figuratively speaking — Digg has had three chief execs within the past six months, one of which was Rose himself).

In short, with all the Digg drama, who wouldn't be burned out?

Rose refused to confirm that he's still be working at Digg by the end of 2010. ReadWriteWeb reports that the young entrepreneur seemed more enthusiastic about his angel investments than in the company he founded six years ago.

This can't be comforting news to new CEO Matt Williams, whose appointment to the post was announced just last month, or the rest of the Digg team. If its skittish founder, who spoke a lot about his and Digg's mistakes, abandons ship, how well will Digg hold up on its own? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Image courtesy of Flickr, thomashawk.