WebProNews

Tag: Acquisition

  • Thomson Reuters Acquires Apsmart

    Thomson Reuters Acquires Apsmart

    This morning, Thomson Reuters announced that have definitive plans to acquire cutting-edge mobile platform, Apsmart, out of London. Apsmart is well known for their application designs on iOS and Android systems. They were actually responsible for the first Shazam app. on the iPhone.

    Here’s what Reuters had to say about the acquisition:

    Mobile is an increasingly significant way in which professionals work and consume information. The acquisition of Apsmart will enhance Thomson Reuters mobile product creation, design and development, allowing the company to deliver even more expert-enriched content, news and solutions through the interfaces that professionals want on the mobile devices they use.

    Robert Schukai, global head of mobile technology at Thomson Reuters comments on the acquisition:

    “This new team brings strong experience in end–to–end mobile development capabilities from user experience and design through to product realization and platform services,”

    “As we move forward, we will have a greater ability to develop foundational mobile capabilities that build significant brand value in our mobile product portfolio.”

    Rahul Powar, new head of mobile application development at Thomson Reuters also comments on the acquisition of Apsmart:

    “The team at Apsmart is excited about the opportunity to apply our diverse mix of skills to the large Thomson Reuters customer base. We look forward to helping drive the strategy and creation of significant new experiences in mobile across the organization,”

    The terms of the agreement have yet to be disclosed, and there is no mention of a tentative closing date. Apsmart is majority owned by DN Capital, a digital media investment firm.

  • Citrix’s Bytemobile Acquisitions Lands Mobile Carriers as Customers

    As we reported earlier, Citrix, a cloud-based specialist, has announced their intention to acquire Bytemobile, a video and mobile data solutions provider. The deal will give Citrix a direct line to over 130 mobile carriers in 60 countries around the globe.

    The decision to acquire Bytemobile was a strategic one as they have been planning to form a new product group which would require a series of niche web and video optimization players. Bytemobile is the answer to that need.

    Bytemobile actually makes adaptive traffic controllers and other tools for managing capacity and relieving congestion. The technology they employ is called Smart Capacity and it’s the core of Bytemobile’s data management solutions. ZD Net featured these diagrams in their coverage of the Bytemobile acquisition. I thought it would be useful to share them with readers so they can understand what Bytemobile stands to offer Citrix and their customers.

    device-cloud

    bytemobile

    Klaus Oestermann, group vice president and general manager of cloud networking at Citrix comments on what Bytemobile brings to Citrix’ already broad range of services:

    “The integration of Bytemobile will enable us to extend our value proposition to the edge of the network, bringing content closer to the end user,”

    “The benefits to network operators and their subscribers include faster, more efficient, more reliable, and more manageable networks; higher performance resulting in better service and a better user experience; and scalability to process growing volumes of data traffic at a much lower cost.”

    Citrix plans to build on Bytemobile as the center of its go-to-market strategy for mobile network operators – retaining and growing its investment in the Bytemobile brand, technology, products, employees and customer relationships. Bytemobile will continue as an independent product group within the Citrix cloud networking group, leveraging clear synergies with adjacent technologies such as Citrix NetScaler.

  • Citrix Enters Mobile & Video Market with Bytemobile

    Cloud business specialist, Citrix has entered into a definitive deal to acquire mobile solutions provider, Bytemobile. The deal will expand Citrix reach by granting them access to 130 mobile operators in 60 countries worldwide.

    Furthermore, the partnership allows the companies to better capitalize on the growing mobile and could-based networking trends which are growing exponentially everyday.

    The acquisition builds on a strategic partnership announced earlier this year that combines the Bytemobile Smart Capacity technology with the Citrix NetScaler line of cloud networking solutions. The acquisition is a valuable investment into the mobile data and video markets for Citrix.

    Klaus Oestermann, group vice president and general manager of cloud networking at Citrix comments on the acquisition of Bytemobile:

    “The cloud and mobile revolutions are rapidly converging, and mobile operators are at the heart of this convergence,”

    “With the integration of Bytemobile technology, products and intellectual capital, Citrix will be uniquely positioned to be a leader in the global mobile data and video infrastructure market in the LTE era.”

    “The benefits to network operators and their subscribers include faster, more efficient, more reliable, and more manageable networks; higher performance resulting in better service and a better user experience; and scalability to process growing volumes of data traffic at a much lower cost.”

    Chris Koopmans, chief operating officer of Bytemobile comments on the acquisition:

    “We are excited about the significance of this transaction for the industry, our customers, our employees, and our stockholders,”

    “With the rollout of LTE and other next-generation networks, the mobile data market is poised to grow dramatically in the coming years. The addition of Bytemobile solutions to the Citrix portfolio will accelerate the fulfillment of our vision and investment in the future of the industry.”

    California-based Bytemobile employs over 300 people including product, sales, and service teams around the globe. They specialize in optimizing video and data services, and providing feedback based on a number of metrics. Their business currently reaches over 2 billion customers and handles 20 petabytes of data each day.

    The financial aspects of the deal have yet to be disclosed, and a closing date hasn’t been determined. Citrix will discuss the matter further upon the closure of their second 2012 financial quarter at the end of June.

  • Could Twitter be Acquired by Google in Light of Facebook IPO Fallout?

    Could Twitter be acquired by Google? It seems like a rather outlandish idea, but thanks to the recent flop by Facebook in their efforts to go public, smaller internet companies like Twitter may find acquisition by an established giant like Google to be an attractive offer. In fact, Google’s mergers and acquisition team has been mulling over the idea for some time.

    While Twitter may not be ready to go public in its current capacity, it doesn’t look to be far off either. On the other hand, the Facebook IPO should be a sharp reminder that success is not only in the eye of the beholder. According to Business Insider, both parties, Twitter and Google, may be open to the idea of an acquisition.

    Twitter has some serious work left to do with securing ad revenues and illustrating performance before it can sell itself to shareholders. So maybe the safety of Google would be a better choice, and a faster route to success. Business Insider actually raises some very pertinent arguments in their coverage on the subject, here’s how they summarized the whole affair:

    * It’s becoming obvious that Twitter’s business model will be ads in users Twitter streams, targeted through contextual matching – something that Google is better at than anybody.

    * Twitter cofounder and executive chairman Jack Dorsey is spending less time at the company again, prefering to work on his other company, Square. That leaves a professional, non-founding CEO Dick Costolo in charge – one who has already sold a company to Google once in his career. Why wouldn’t he do it again?

    * Google organizes the Web for desktops, through pull. Twitter organizes the Web for mobile, through push. The Internet will be mostly mobile by the end of the decade.

    We’ll have to wait to see if there’s any substance to this speculation, but it would make a great deal of sense, and be a powerful partnership, if Twitter were to be acquired by Google. If both parties are willing, it could just be a matter of time and logistics.

  • Oracle to Buy Cloud-Based Social Monitor, Collective Intellect

    Today, Software-as-a-Service provider, Oracle announce its plans to acquire Collective Intellect, a cloud-based social media monitor.

    The addition of Collective Intellect will allow Oracle to offer organizations quicker response to media feedback, more specifically targeted advertising, and a chance to generate more leads.

    Both entities will continue to operate independently, but oracle will directly benefit from the ability to offer its current and future customers the advantage of real-time social monitoring and analytics. The results of which will be more effective brand and product placement with improved consumer engagement.

    Thomas Kurian, executive vice president of Oracle Development comments on the acquisition of Collective Intellect:

    “Gaining intelligence from consumer conversations across social media, and knowing customers’ intentions and interests helps organizations create better products and deliver better service,”

    “Collective Intellect’s leading cloud-based applications for social media monitoring, combined with Oracle’s social relationship platform offers a complete social experience to our customers.”

    Don Springer, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Collective Intellect comments on the acquisition by Oracle:

    “Creating meaningful content based on a clear understanding of consumers’ conversations is the way brands will create stronger customer relationships,”

    “Collective Intellect’s semantic analytics platform provides cutting-edge technology to Oracle that will create a winning combination as brand-to-customer relationships move from transactional to social.”

    Here’s the facts about the acquisition from Oracle’s press release:

    * Oracle announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Collective Intellect. Collective Intellect’s leading cloud-based social intelligence solutions enable organizations to monitor, understand and respond to consumers’ conversations on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

    * Collective Intellect’s cloud-based solutions help organizations transform social conversations into actionable intelligence, creating better marketing campaigns, improving customer service, generating more targeted leads and opportunities, and enhancing products and services with real-time customer feedback.

    * Oracle’s leading sales, marketing, service, commerce, social data management and analytics, combined with Collective Intellect and the recently announced pending acquisition of Vitrue, is expected to create the most advanced and comprehensive social relationship platform.

    * By integrating Collective Intellect with Oracle’s Software-as-a-Service products and Social Platform, Oracle will enable marketing organizations to create more targeted marketing campaigns; help customer service teams respond quickly to customer feedback on social media; generate targeted leads and opportunities for sales teams; and strengthen how companies build more effective brands using the Internet and social media.

    * The combination is expected to enable organizations to build stronger relationships with consumers through intelligent understanding of their social conversations and to respond with appropriate action and engagement.

    * The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. More information on this announcement can be found at http://www.oracle.com/collectiveintellect.

    Collective Intellect is a private company founded in Boulder, Colorado in 2005. The financial particulars of the deal have net yet been disclosed. The acquisition is expected to be completed in second half of 2012.

  • Twitter Acquires Nclud for International Facelift

    Twitter just acquired some valuable new talent. This morning it was confirmed via Twitter (see tweet below) that indeed they have acquired internet design studio, Nclud.

    Nclud’s co-founder and director of brand experience Martin Ringlein will be headed out to California to join Twitter at their headquarters as the company’s new design manager.

    Ringlein and several other employees from the Washington-based design studio were hired to help Twitter with their International design efforts. Also, the Nclud brand may live on even though it has been bought-up by Twitter, but no details on the deal have yet been released. What is known, is that Twitter officially owns Nclud’s IP.

    Nclud is best known for its work as an advertising and marketing design agency. Some of their more prominent work has been on projects for Oracle designing iPhone apps, but they do work for both web and mobile screens. We’ll keep you updated as more information about the acquisition and a possible Twitter facelift becomes available.

    Marty Madrid
    @martymadrid     it’s true … @nclud was acquired. As of today, I am the new Design Manager at Twitter!!
    4 hours ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto
     Reply  · Retweet  · Favorite

  • Zillow’s Acquisition of RentJuice is Now Complete

    Back in early May, Zillow announced plans to acquire software solutions provider, RentJuice into its real estate business. The plan was to have the deal complete by early July, but today Zillow announced that the acquisition is complete.

    The deal was negotiated by a third party and cost Zilllow about $40 million in cash. RentJuice brings with it custom designed software solution designed specifically for landlords, rental brokers, and property managers. Last Fall, Zillow also acquired Diverse Solutions, a company dedicated to developing real estate websites and improving marketing efforts.

    Spencer Rascoff (pictured above), Zillow CEO comments on the RentJuice acquisition:

    “We see a huge market opportunity in rentals. More than seventy percent of movers each year are renters and rental units turn over six times as frequently as homes for sale, yet the professional market is highly fragmented,”

    “RentJuice’s marketing and productivity tools are an incredible resource for rental professionals and this acquisition is a valuable accelerant in building Zillow’s own rental marketplace. We are incredibly excited to officially welcome the entire RentJuice team to Zillow.”

    RentJuice founder and CEO David Vivero will now serve as vice president of rentals at Zillow. He will be reporting directly to Spencer Rascoff, and is excited to be part of the Zillow real estate team.

    David Vivero comments on his addition to the Zillow team:

    “Zillow is the unrivaled category leader and we’re excited to become part of the team that’s recognized as pioneering technology and innovation across the entire real estate industry,”

    Zillow’s newest marketplace is called Rentals and it carries 93 million renters at over 43 million rental locations. Zillow receives over 30 million unique visitors to their various sites every month.

  • Groupon Acquires Breadcrumb, Restaurant POS Software

    Groupon announced the acquisition of Breadcrumb, in a company blog post, yesterday.

    We are excited to announce that Groupon has acquired Breadcrumb! The team behind Breadcrumb shares our passion to build affordable and intuitive products that make it easier for local merchants to manage their business. We’re thrilled to welcome founder Seth Harris and his team to the Groupon family

    Breadcrumb is a restaurant Point of Sale App that works on the iPad and comes with a small card reader peripheral that plugs directly into the side of the device. Groupon announced that they will be offering this product/service to their existing merchant partners. Restaurant’s that are current or future partners will have the ability to make Groupon redemption an easier process.

    New York Based Start-up Breadcrumb makes it easier for restaurants to lower prices and keep the same profit margins. It helps cut down prices on POS systems, which are astronomical. It may also help to encourage more entrepreneurs to start a business. The high risk involved in opening a restaurant may be offset by lowered start-up cost to some people.

    AllThingsDitigal is reporting that Groupon paid between $10 and $15 million for the company, before retention bonuses. Breadcrumb was founded just last year, and has less than 10 employees.

    Groupon has seen its shares in steady decline all year, but has rebounded slightly this month. A key acquisition like this could help them recover from a dismal IPO.

  • Salesforce to Acquire Buddy Media

    Salesforce to Acquire Buddy Media

    Enterprise cloud computing company Salesforce is set to acquire Buddy Media, the makers fo social enterprise software. The purchase would augment Salesforce’s enterprise offerings with a ready-made solution for social media brand management.

    The news was first reported by All Things D, which cites unnamed sources as saying the two companies have agreed to terms of the sale, though the purchase is not yet final. Buddy Media will be bought for more than $800 million, a bid by Salesforce that evidently beat out a lower one by Google.

    Salesforce is an enterprise cloud computing company whose mission is “the end of software.” To that end, the company provides numerous cloud solutions for businesses, including Sales Cloud sales force automation, Service Cloud customer service support, and Radian6 social media monitoring, which Salesforce acquired las year. The company is beating earnings estimates and rising in prominence as one of the top cloud solutions companies in the U.S. It has also recently updated its Chatter cloud collaboration service to include real-time messaging.

    Buddy Media specializes in Facebook advertising. It manages a brand’s total social media presence on Facebook, maintaining pages, app, ads, and offers. The company also manages brand image on other social networks such as Twitter and Google +. Buddy Media claims to have eight of the top ten global advertisers as clients. Earlier this year Buddy Media appointed a new president to the company, Susan St. Ledger.

    With Facebook now public and desperately trying to raise revenue forecasts, it makes sense that Buddy Media would be a hot commodity. With this acquisition, Salesforce is positioning itself to be the middleman between advertisers and Facebook. And with both Radian6 and Buddy Media, Salesforce is now the go-to solutions company for social media advertising.

    (via All Things D)

  • Dell Looking Into Acquiring Quest Software Inc.

    Dell Looking Into Acquiring Quest Software Inc.

    Dell is one of several companies toying with the idea of acquiring Software developer, Quest Software, Inc. Quest develops software to help organizations manage databases and servers as well as designing recovery programs. Insight Venture Partners, a private equity and investment firm, offered to buy Quest back in March for $2 billion, but Quest has been examining their options.

    Quest would be a complementary addition to Dell’s ever-increasing and divers enterprise software solutions. In an effort to branch out from the consumer home computer business, Dell has acquired several software providers recently including Make Technologies, Wyse Technology, and Clarify Solutions.

    Quest shares have recently experienced a 5% lift, and there is much more investor interest. The company is currently valued at over $2.12 billion. Morgan Stanley is representing Quest for the sale and they have already had interest from BMC Software Inc, CA Inc, Microsoft Corporation, and Oracle Corporation, in addition to Dell.

    Dell has not commented on any dealings with Quest, but many experts expect Dell to put a bid in for Quest. We’ll keep you updated as new information becomes available.

  • Facebook And Bolt Peters Join Forces

    I wouldn’t say that the current Facebook design is anti-user friendly, but it could use some improvements. Facebook’s latest hiring suggests that they’re taking user experience very seriously.

    You might not be aware of Bolt Peters, but they are a group that focuses on user experience and design for Web sites, devices, cars and other promotional materials. They’ve been very successful with multiple clients from all over the world like Sony, Volkswagen and the New York Times, but the company is closing on June 22. At that time, employees from the company will be moving to the Facebook design team.

    Nate Bolt, one of the co-founders, announced the closure on the company blog. The company obviously has fans and they might be a little worried about Bolt Peters’ other projects once they close up shop. You have no need to worry as each of their side projects will continue on under different leadership.

    First up is ethnio, a UX research recruiting firm. The company became independent on May 17 and the closure of Bolt Peters will not have an effect on the company. They announced a couple of changes coming to the service at that time. If you want to know more, check out their blog post.

    Bolt Peters used to als manage an event called User Research Friday. The event was billed as a “casual conference” for UX, research and design professionals could meet up and discuss the latest trends in the industry. Bolt says that the conference is now in good hands User Interface Engineering.

    They also hosted a mobile photography conference called 1197. That event will now be hosted by the New York Soho Gallery for Digital Art. So as you can see, the closure of Bolt Peters will not have any effect on the projects and conferences they curated over the years.

    It sounds like the team will be creating a far more interesting user experience at Facebook. We probably won’t see the fruits of their labor until later on down the road, but you can check out some examples of their previous work from videos to books.

    [h/t: All Things D]

    [Lead Image: Boltron via flickr]

  • R.R. Donnelley Buys EDGAR Online

    Printing company R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. has announced that it will acquire financial data firm EDGAR Online for roughly $38.6 million, which would expand its digital product offering. Along with debt and a payment equal to the redemption price of its preferred shares, the deal is worth $70.5 million altogether, with shares at $1.092 a piece.

    R.R. Donnelley’s services include printing labels and marketing tools, which will adapt EDGAR’s searchable, archived regulatory documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. EDGAR had been offerring its services to R.R. Donnelley since 2008, and the merger seemed likely, with the deal expected to close sometime in the third quarter. Though, regulators and EDGAR shareholders still need to review and approve the merger. Upon news of the acquisition, R.R. Donnelley $ Sons stock was down 14 cents at $10.28, and EDGAR stock was up to $1.07, or 35 cents.

    Over the past couple of years, R.R. Donnelley acquired Bowne & Co., San Francisco-based Nimblefish Technologies, Helium.com, as well as Journalism Online. Since its inception, the Chicago-based company has steadily grown via a series of mergers and acquisitions, especially during the 1990’s.

  • LinkedIn Interested in Buying Monster

    LinkedIn Interested in Buying Monster

    Reuters is reporting that “people familiar with the matter” have told them LinkedIn, the popular social network devoted to professional networking, may be interested in purchasing Monster Worldwide, the company that owns the job search websites monster.com and hotjobs.com.

    In early March, Monster revealed that it would be retaining Stone Key Partners and Bank of America Merrill Lynch to review its financial situation. This “review of strategic alternatives” included the possibility of selling Monster Worldwide. Silver Lake Partners, a private technology investment company, was also named as a party interested in the possible sale.

    From the Reuters report:

    The company, which has roughly $950 million market capitalization, plans to send out financial information to the interested parties by the end of next week, they said.

    Representatives for Monster and LinkedIn declined to comment. Silver Lake, Stone Key Partners and Bank of America had no immediate comment.

    So, an anonymous source and no comment from the companies. Not much to go on, but the story has a ring of truth to it. LinkedIn is good at connecting employers and potential employees through social media, but integrating an established job search engine would be an interesting next step for the company. LinkedIn has been on a roll lately, posting impressive quarterly figures and increasing its mobile presence by releasing a well-regarded iPad app.

    What do you think? How would a social network such as LinkedIn use a job search engine? Leave a comment below and let us know your ideas.

    (via Reuters)

  • Evernote Acquires Penultimate

    Digital note-taking company Evernote has just acquired Penultimate, the iPad handwriting application, according to the Cocoa Box company blog, maker of said app. Evernote has recently been in the news after raising $70 million in its fourth round of funding in a $1 billion IPO valuation, money which they say will be used to “ramp the speed of product improvements, expand internationally, and make future strategic acquisitions.” Penultimate joins the list as one of these strategic acquisitions, and no word on how much it was sold for.

    Penultimate can be downloaded from the iTunes Store, and is one of the most popular apps for iPad. Users can record notes of sketches by ‘writing’ on the iPad’s screen, and the app is described as helping one to “remember everything.”

    Here’s a clip of Evernote CEO Phil Libin and Penultimate founder Ben Zotto discussing the merger:

    Zotto states, “Penultimate is not going away: it remains an independent application, and will continue to espouse the virtues of ease of use, elegance, and “that special something” that have kept you coming back. But I also think you’ll be thrilled, and even surprised, by how much more the app will be able to do for you as we work together to improve it and connect more profoundly with Evernote’s capabilities.”

    In addition to the iPad version, Penultimate is being developed for other platforms as well.

  • LinkedIn Acquires Document Presentation Startup SlideShare

    LinkedIn, the popular professional networking social network, today announced that it will soon acquire SlideShare, a startup that hosts documents and presentations for sharing and display on the web. The company will be purchased for approximately $118.75 million, in a combination of cash and stock.

    “Presentations are one of the main ways in which professionals capture and share their experiences and knowledge, which in turn helps shape their professional identity,” said LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner. “These presentations also enable professionals to discover new connections and gain the insights they need to become more productive and successful in their careers, aligning perfectly with LinkedIn’s mission and helping us deliver even more value for our members. We’re very excited to welcome the SlideShare team to LinkedIn.”

    Over on the LinkedIn blog, Deep Nishar, LinkedIn’s senior vice president for product & user experience, stated that LinkedIn and SlideShare have already been working closely with each other for years. Nishar called himself a “huge fan” of SlideShare and excitedly welcomed the company to the “LinkedIn family.” He also assuaged fears that SlideShare would be changing or going away:

    In the meantime, SlideShare users will continue experiencing this great service as always. SlideShare has done a tremendous job of creating a dynamic platform for document sharing that millions of professionals have come to rely on everyday — and it will remain that way

    SlideShare CEO Rashmi Sinha, who WebProNews interviewed last year, posted a message on the SlideShare blog explaining her reasons for selling the company:

    You could ask why did we agree to sell? For one, I firmly believe that SlideShare will grow faster with LinkedIn. Second, I have watched as LinkedIn has grown from being a place to share your resume to a much richer site, where you go to keep up with what your professional network is doing and sharing. We like the path they are on, and are excited to join them on this journey.

    The LinkedIn prepared a SlideShare presentation to outline the acquisition, which can be seen below. What do you think? Does this purchase make sense for LinkedIn? How do you think LinkedIn will use SlideShare? Leave a comment below and let us know.

    LinkedIn and Slideshare

    View more presentations from LinkedIn

  • Zillow to Acquire RentJuice Rental Services

    Zilllow announced today that they have entered into an agreement to acquire RentJuice Corporation. RentJuice offers software solutions to landlords, property managers, and rental brokers. The deal gives Zillow users better, more professional tools for engaging the renters market. Zillow is already a leader in the rental search market and receives about 5 million hits each month.

    Spencer Rascoff, Zillow CEO comments on the addition of RentJuice:

    “Zillow has spent the last six years building robust marketplaces for real estate and mortgages, and we are in the midst of growing our rental marketplace, which has tremendous potential,”

    “The acquisition of RentJuice, with its talented team and innovative solutions for rental professionals, propels Zillow’s rental marketplace ahead by years. We are very excited to welcome the RentJuice team into Zillow.”

    The deal will cost Zillow about $40 million in cash and of course, is should be closing before the end of the second quarter of 2012. RentJuice has been around since 2009 and currently has about 30 employees.

    RentJuice CEO David Vivero comments on joining Zillow:

    “At RentJuice, we are passionate about improving the way the rental market does business, and making the lives of rental professionals easier,”

    “Becoming a part of Zillow will allow us to invest more and innovate faster on behalf of the leasing professionals we support.”

    The deal sounds like it will be beneficial to both companies. As I said before the deal should be closed by the beginning of July this year.

  • Salesforce acquires Collaborative Text Editor Stypi

    Salesforce acquires Collaborative Text Editor Stypi

    We’ve learned today that Stypi will be acquired by Salesforce.com, an enterprise cloud computing company. Their goal is helping businesses communicate and collaborate with customers in a safe and easy way. Stypi is a company that can help Salesforce add to their already rich portfolio of enterprise communications solutions.

    Stypi specializes in online collaboration in source code editing, website copy, and a number of other situations that require online solutions to the editing process. Essentially they are a company founded on the concept of facilitating productive and simple online collaborations.

    Yesterday, in their blog post, co-founder Jason Chen and Byron Milligan explained a little about the acquisition and how in Salesforce, they have found a like-minded ally. The Palo Alto startup also expressed their enthusiasm for joining up with Sales force.

    Here’s what Jason Chen and Byron Milligan had to say about the acquisition:

    “We’ve found that they share our vision for collaboration and all of its possibilities and together we’ll be able to create even more amazing collaboration solutions.”

    “We’re super excited about this new leg in our journey, and can’t wait to share these steps with you.”

    “Most importantly, Stypi will continue to be the Stypi you know. Our users will continue to have access to this great service, community, and innovation.”

    So the great thing about the acquisition is their products will still be available to people who have enjoyed and taken advantage of their services in the past. Salesforce has not yet commented on the acquisition.

  • Intuit to Acquire Demandforce for $423.5 Million

    Intuit Inc. announced a plan to acquire Demandforce, a company which helps small business automate marketing and other communications. With Demandforce comes their software as a service (SAAS) application which is already used by thousands of small business customers. The SAAS model fits very well with intuits current customer support efforts and will go a long way to add value to the Intuit brand.

    Kiran Patel, executive vice president and general manager, Intuit Small Business Group comments on the acquisition of Demandforce:

    “Demandforce sits at the sweet spot of Intuit’s SMB customer base and is consistent with our goal to help our customers save time and make money,”

    “With a compelling customer value proposition, SaaS model and high growth profile, Demandforce will provide opportunities to grow Intuit’s customer base and revenue per customer over time.”

    Expected to close in May, the acquisition will cost Intuit around $425.3 million, but it is expected to add a couple points to their revenue growth in fiscal year 2013. There won’t be many changes at Demandforce, most of their staff will stay on and be observed into Intuit’s workforce.

    Demandforce president and founder Rick Berry comments on the acquisition by Intuit:

    “We believe this transaction greatly benefits Intuit and Demandforce’s customers, partners, employees and shareholders,”

    “Intuit is one of the most respected companies and brands serving SMBs and represents a great opportunity to continue our rapid growth and expansion into new markets.”

    Intuit has been in the business of financial management for small business since 1983 and has grown to employ more than 8,000 employees today. They have offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, India and select other locations.

  • Facebook Buys Tagtile, a Marketing Solutions Company

    Facebook has extended its shopping spree by buying Tagtile, a loyalty and direct marketing solutions designer for businesses. Tagtile is the second company Facebook has bought this week. It bought social photo-sharing mobile app company Instagram on Monday.

    Tagtile is service for businesses and customers. Businesses can set up the service using a Tagtile “kit” which comes with a funny-looking cube that only needs to be plugged into a power outlet. Customers can then “tap” their phones on the cube at check-out counters, registering their visit with a business. The business can then use the information however they want, presumably to give discounts, coupons, or other incentives to come back and “tap” again.

    A statement yesterday on Tagtile’s website stated:

    Today, we are happy to announce that we are joining Facebook, and that they are acquiring substantially all of our assets. It’s a huge opportunity for us to take our goal – helping businesses grow – and do it on a much, much bigger scale than we could have on our own.

    We won’t be taking on any new customers as of today, but the service will continue to work as is for now. We’ll be reaching out to customers directly once future plans are set, but Tagtile as it exists today won’t be a part of what we do at Facebook.

    I can see how Tagtile could be very useful for businesses seeking to keep track of their customers, and also useful for customers whose wallets are overflowing with grocery store, gas station, and various other “rewards” cards. Not to mention all those buy-10-get-one-free coffee, sub, and cookie hold-punch cards. The real question, with all of the privacy paranoia going around, is whether a Facebook branding would help or hurt the service.

    Purchasing these companies is an interesting move for Facebook, and reminds me of they way Google gobbles up smaller start-ups that are already implementing services it might want to see on its sites. There’s no arguing, though, that Instagram would fit very well into the Facebook mobile app for smartphones. Also, Tagtile would seem to go hand-in-hand with the “Offers” service Facebook began rolling out this week.

    There is no word yet on what Facebook has paid for Tagtile, but I’m willing to guess it is much less than the shocking $1 billion it paid for Instagram.

  • Cisco to Acquire Israeli video service NDS

    Cisco to Acquire Israeli video service NDS

    Cisco announced today that it plans to acquire NDS Group Ltd., a video software and content security provider. Cisco makes the acquisition to complement Videoscape, their platform that allows service providers to deliver next-gen videos. The company will shell out $5 billion in the deal.

    Key Points

    • Videoscape is a part of Cisco’s strategy to provide TV experience to PC and mobile platforms, while protecting content for media providers
    • The acquisition of NDS will facilitate the delivery of Videoscape.
    • The deal reflects Cisco’s increased focus on video
    • The $5 billion valuation is in line with the companies earnings, and comparable to other deals in this category, including Cisco’s acquisition of Tandberg.
    • Most of NDS’s software is included with long-term contracts of about 5 years
    • NDS and Cisco will operate as separate companies until the deal is closed.
    • Approximately 5,000 NDS employees will now work for Cisco.

    CEO of Cisco, John Chambers had this to say about the deal: “Our strategy has always been driven by customer need and on capturing market transitions. Our acquisition of NDS fits squarely into this strategy, enabling content and service providers to deliver new video solutions that leverage the cloud and drive new monetization opportunities and service differentiation.”

  • Shutterfly Soars with Pending Kodak Gallery Acquisition

    After buying TinyPrints last year for $300 million, Shutterfly is about to acquire parts of Kodak’s online photo service for $23.8 million dollars. Kodak is parting out its Gallery after filing for bankruptcy.

    The agreement will transfer U.S. and Canadian customer accounts to Shutterfly. Current Kodak customers who are in opposition to the transfer can select to opt out of the program.

    Kodak’s proposed deal with Shutterfly is pending approval and will have to be filtered through U.S. Bankruptcy and Court proceedings. A decision is expected to be reached by the end of March.

    Kodak will also be discontinuing their line of digital cameras, camcorders, and picture frames but they are not out of the photo business just yet. The Rochester-based company plans on shifting towards developing home printing products and retail and destination photo solutions.

    One Twitter user, pPatil, was surprised that Kodak was able to get as much as they did from Shutterfly:

    @peepultree
    pPatil    Kodak gallery is worth 24M USD? (Shutterfly bought it for that much): http://t.co/eiGE7bVj 10 hours ago  via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto