2005 M&A Dealflow

From: Cliff Kurtzman <moderator_at_o-a.com>
Date: Tue 15 Nov 2005 12:26:19 -0600

For our recent AD:TECH presentation, Jay Weintraub and I did
some research to prepare a summary of 2005 M&A deals in our
industry. Exactly what made the list was somewhat subjective...
the intent was on cataloging deals that involved companies that
play a significant role in the online marketing and advertising
space, and in deals that involve companies whose primary
business model involves publishing content online. The
information is taken from published news reports, and has not
been independently verified. Acquisition dates shown are usually
dates on which the acquisition agreement was announced, and not
the later date on which the acquisition transaction was completed.

Since the presentation, I have continued to find new deals and
enhance the listing. I'm planning to set up a web page archiving
this information, and to announce new deals periodically on this
list for possible subsequent discussion.

I encourage others to post new deals that they see, and to point
out any relevant 2005 deals that I've missed in the below listing.


November
PlanetOut acquires LPI Media for $31.1M.
MashBoxx acquires Grokster
AtomShockwave acquires Addicting Games
WebMD acquires TheHeart.org for $19M (approximately $150/member)
Microsoft acquires media-streams.com AG and Foldershare
News Corp buys Propertyfinder.com for $25.3M
AOL acquires MusicNow
Think Partnership (CGI Holdings) buys Web Diversity for $2M
Aegis/Isobar acquires Planete Interactive and Webcontents for $11M
Omnicom acquires Resolution Media
VML acquires Studiocom
Ziff Davis Media Game Group acquires FileFront.com
Boulevards acquires SF Station
Leisure & Gaming acquires Nine.com for $36M and Engllish Harbour for $16.5M
ThriftyChick.com acquired by Papierdoll.net
Stoddard Hill Capital acquires iNET Interactive from Aberration! Ventures
Alebooks acquires BookFinder.com
LocalMatters acquires AreaGuides.net
Yahoo! acquires Softbank's shares of Yahoo UK, Yahoo Germany and
Yahoo France, and Yahoo Korea for $500M
First Advantage Corporation and The First American Corporation
jointly acquire a 75 percent ownership interest in LeadClick Media
for $150 million.

October
AOL purchases Weblogs, Inc. for $25 Million
Yahoo acquires Upcoming.org
Verisign buys Moreover for $30M
MTV Networks buys IFILM for $49M
J. L. Halsey acquires EmailLabs for $19.5M
Omnicom acquires ipsh!
AOL acquires Weblogs (est. $25M)
Aegis/Isobar acquires Kirowski Rt. for $12M
Yahoo acquires WhereonEarth
eBay acquires VeriSign Payment Gateway for $370M

September
Trendum acquires BuzzMetrics
Microsoft buys Alacris
eBay buys Skype for $2.6 - $4 Billion
Rakuten buys Linkshare for $425M
Alliance buys Bigfoot Interactive for $120M est.
News Corp (Fox Interactive) acquires IGN for $650M
DMG World Media acquires iMedia
Media Contacts acquires Iando

August
Microsoft acquires Teleo (VoIP Tech)
AOL buys Xdrive
AOL buys Wildseed
News Corp (Fox Interactive) acquires Scout Media
ValueClick acquires Fastclick for $280M
Incisive Media PLC acquires Clickz.com/Search Engine Trade Shows from
Jupitermedia for $43M
Aegis/Isobar acquires glue for $26M
Experian acquires Vente, Inc.
Vector Capital acquires Register.com for $200M
Yahoo! invests $1B in Alibaba, which acquires Yahoo! China

July
Marchex buys IndustryBrains for $30.6M
Yahoo buys Konfabulator
News Corp (Fox Interactive) buys Intermix/MySpace for $580M
Google acquires Android
Google acquires Akwan
Cheetahmail (Experian) acquires Harvest Solutions
Aegis/Isobar acquires Digithais Network for $6M
Experian acquires ClassesUSA.com

June
Gannett acquires PointRoll (est. $100M)
Amazon.com buys CustomFlix
Yahoo acquires Dialpad
eBay buys Shopping.com for $620 Million
Millward Brown acquires Dynamic Logic
I/PRO acquires Accrue
ValueClick acquires Web Clients for $141M
ValueClick acquires E-Babylon for $15M
MTV Networks buys Neopets for $160M
Jupitermedia acquires PictureArts for $63.2M
Falk North America acquires FPBA Group/Commflash
IGN acquires AskMen.com
E.W. Scripps acquires Shopzilla for $525M
Aegis/Isobar acquires HYPERmedia for $8.7M

May
Jupitermedia acquires JGuru.com
Horizon buys Mass Transit Interactive
Refinery buys DirectMASS
Google acquires Dodgeball
J. L. Halsey acquires Lyris for $24M
Experian buys LowerMyBills.com for $380M
eBay/Kijiji acquires Gumtree.com and LoQUo.com

April
Amazon.com buys BookSurge
Amazon.com buys Mobipocket.com
Hellman & Friedman buys Doubleclick for $1.1B
Yahoo acquires TeRespondo
Aegis/Isobar acquires Molecular for $31.5M
Experian acquires Thermo Media, LLC (Affiliate Fuel)

March
Francisco Partners acquires WebTrends from NetIQ for $94M
Acxiom acquires Digital Impact for $140M
WebSourced acquires Smart Interactive
adMarketplace acquires AIBITS
IAC/Interactive Corp buys Ask Jeeves for $1.85 Billion
Microsoft buys Groove Networks
Yahoo acquires Ludicorp Research (Flickr) for $40 Million
Google purchases Urchin Sofware for $30 Million
GOT Corporation acquires Smart Solutions International
Silverpop acquires Digital Oxygen
360i acquires SearchIgnite
Think Partnership (CGI Holdings) acquires PrimaryAds for $10M-$26M

February
Websidestory acquires Atomz for $4.3M
comScore acquires SurveySite
NY Times buys About.com from Primedia for $410 Million
Interchange acquires Inspire Infrastructure 2i for $22.5M
Ask Jeeves acquires Bloglines

January
iVillage acquires Healthology for $17.2M
DigitalGrit acquires Liquid Marketing and Insight
Aegis/Isobar acquires FarFar
Aegis/Isobar acquires De-construct for $11M
DMG New Media acquires AD:TECH $19.4M est.

--Cliff

Clifford R. Kurtzman
CEO | Moderator
ADASTRO Incorporated | The Online Advertising Discussion List
http://www.adastro.com | http://www.o-a.com
(281) 480-6300




Received on Tue Nov 15 2005 - 12:26:19 CST