Tue 6 Jan 2009
Complete List of 2008 Web/Tech/Internet Acquisitions
Posted by Dane Fox under Acquisitions
With a drastic drop in the number of acquisitions between the first half and second half of the year, 2008 has shaped up to be an interesting year in technology acquisitions. Nearly 70 percent of acquisitions took place in the first half of 2008. This decline is no doubt tied to the financial crises of the past several months and our country’s growing economic uncertainty. Here is the quarterly breakdown in the number of acquisitions.
Q1: 32 total acquisitions
Q2: 41 total acquisitions
Q3: 18 total acquisitions
Q4: 15 total acquisitions
There were several big ticket acquisitions this year. The largest was Verizon’s acquisition of Alltel for a whopping $28.1 billion. This acquisition allowed Verizon to surpass AT&T as the nation’s largest wireless provider. Here are some of the other big acquisitions this year.
- HP acquires EDS: $13.9 billion
- NBC Universal acquires The Weather Channel: $3.5 billion
- Brocade acquires Foundry Networks: $3 billion
- CBS acquires CNET: $1.8 billion
Also, the trend of Web/Internet acquisitions dominating the tech space began in 2007 and continued throughout 2008. Nearly 50 percent of all acquisitions were in this space.
We’d like to say thanks to all of the great blogs out there (TechCrunch, GigaOM, Mashable, VentureBeat, ReadWriteWeb and more) whose frequent tracking of acquisitions makes this list possible.
If you know of any acquisitions that we’ve missed, please leave a comment on this post and we’ll update it.
Update: Here is a link to Q1 2009 Web/Internet/Tech Acquisitions, our most recent list.
Web/Internet Companies Acquired in Q1 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
| Moniker | Oversee.net | $65 Million | Moniker is a domain registration and auction powerhouse. Press Release | TechCrunch |
| Bodybuilding.com | Liberty Media | $100 Million | Liberty Media acquired a controlling stake in Bobybuilding.com an online retailer and fitness website. Press Release | TechCrunch | Reuters |
| CleverSet | Art Technology Group (ATG) | $10 Million | CleverSet offers discovery and recommendation engines to e-commerce sites, using a statistical approach to making products matches. Press Release | TechCrunch | BNet |
| Anywhere.FM | Imeem | Undisclosed | Anywhere.FM is a powerful web music player that allows users to upload their music, play it from anywhere, and discover new music through Friend Radio. Press Release | NY Times | VentureBeat |
| Audible | Amazon | $300 Million | Audible is the leading provider of audio books in digital form, with a library of 80,000 titles. Press Release | TechCrunch | Wall Street Journal | VentureBeat |
| Maven Networks | Yahoo | $160 Million | Maven Networks is a Boston based startup video-hosting platform for media sites. Press Release | TechCrunch | CenterNetworks | BNet | VentureBeat |
| FoxyTunes | Yahoo | Undisclosed | FoxyTunes is a Firefox plugin that allows users to control their favorite media players from the browser. Press Release | TechCrunch |
| Vehix | Comcast | Undisclosed | Vehix is a multi-platform network that provides car buyers with a one-stop shopping experience. Press Release | Mashable |
| HotOrNot | Avid Life Media | $20 Million | HotOrNot is a San Francisco based online photo rating site. TechCrunch | Wired |
| Compete | Taylor Nelson Sofres | $75-150 Million | Compete is a provider of analystics, reasearch and business intelligence. Press Release | TechCrunch | CenterNetworks | VentureBeat |
| BlogDigger | Odeo | Undisclosed | Blogdigger is a site focused on standard blog searches. Press Release | TechCrunch | ReadWriteWeb |
| Auctomatic | Communicate | $5 Million | Auctomatic is a tool for managing your eBay business. TechCrunch | Mashable | Newsweek |
| BeInSync | Phoenix Technologies | $25 Million | BeInSync is an Israeli startup that provides software for the synchronization of files across computers and access them while on the road. Press Release | TechCrunch | Yahoo |
Social Networking Companies Acquired in Q1 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
| Prospero | Mzinga | Undisclosed | Prospero Technologies is the leader in customer community solutions. Press Release | TechCrunch | VentureBeat |
| Social Platform | Onesite | Undisclosed | Social Platform is a key player in the custom white label social networking software space. Press Release | GigaOm | Mashable |
| Pluck | Demand Media | $75 Million | Pluck is a social media software company. Its two main products are SiteLife and BlogBurst. Press Release | TechCrunch | Mashable |
| Bebo | AOL | $850 Million | Bebo is one of the worlds most popular social networking sites. Press Release | TechCrunch | Mashable | VentureBeat |
Internet Advertising Companies Acquired in Q1 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
| Sway | Cornerworld | $30 Million | Sway offers customers real-time results tracking and adminitration of marketing campaigns across multiple web 2.0 and social media platforms. TechCrunch |
| buy.at | AOL | $150 Million | buy.at is a leading affiliate marketing network. Press Release | TechCrunch |
| YaData | Microsoft | Undisclosed | YaData offers analytic software for marketers in the US, including segment discovery and ranking, which combines statistical techniques for segment discovery. Press Release | TechCrunch |
| Weblistic | Spot Runner | Undisclosed | Weblistic is a company that helps local businesses run online advertising campagns. TechCrunch | Mashable | MediaWeek |
Software Companies Acquired in Q1 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
| XIV | IBM | $350 Million | XIV is an Israeli based data storage technology company. Press Release | TechCrunch |
| Apertio | Nokia Siemens | $206 Million | Apertio is a mobile network management provider. Press Release | TechCrunch | NY Times |
| Onaro | Network Appliance | $120 Million | Onaro is a developer of storage-management software. Press Release | TechCrunch | BNet |
| MySQL | Sun Microsystems | $1 Billion | MySQL is an open source database startup. Press Release | TechCrunch | Information Week |
| Trolltech | Nokia | $153 Million | Trolltech is a platform application development provider. Press Release | TechCrunch | Engadget | Business Week | VentureBeat |
| Fraud Sciences | eBay (Paypal) | $169 Million | Fraud Sciences is an Israel and Palto Alto based company that offers automated anti-fraud systems including SpotLight VFX and SpotLight T2T, merchant solutions that provide transaction verification with fraud prevention. Press Release | TechCrunch | Mashable | ITWire | VentureBeat |
| E-Dialog | GSI Commerce | $157 Million | e-Dialog is a leading provider of advanced email marketing services and solutions. Press Release | MSN Money | VentureBeat |
| MessageOne | Dell | $155 Million | MessageOne is an enterprise email management service. Press Release | TechCrunch | Engadget | VentureBeat |
Hardware Companies Acquired in Q1 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
| G-Technology | Fabrik | Undisclosed | G-Technology sells external drives that focus on high performance for rich media. Press Release | TechCrunch | The Alarm Clock |
| Danger | Microsoft | $500 Million | Danger is the maker of the Sidekick cell phone. Press Release | TechCrunch | GigaOm | VentureBeat |
Mapping/Geo Companies Acquired in Q1 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
| Caligari | Microsoft | Undisclosed | Caligari makes 3-D modeling and animation software. Offical Blog Post | TechCrunch | Mashable |
Web/Internet Companies Acquired in Q2 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
| Twhirl | Seesmic | Undisclosed | Twhirl is a popular application that allows users to access Twitter directly from their desktop. Press Release | TechCrunch Mashable ReadWriteWeb VentureBeat |
| Pageflakes | Live Universe | Undisclosed | Pageflakes is an Ajax home page service. TechCrunch | Reuters BNET VentureBeat |
| Sphere | AOL | $25 Million | Sphere is a San Francisco based blog content engine. Press Release | TechCrunch | BNet GigaOm |
| Farecast | Microsoft | $115 Million | Farecast is an airfare pricing comparison tool that uses a predictive algorithm to recommend when you buy your ticket. Press Release| TechCrunch | VentureBeat |
| Activeweave | Buzzlogic | Undisclosed | Activeweave is the creator of the Firefox browser add-on call BlogRovR. Press Release | TechCrunch | VentureBeat |
| Fleaflicker | AOL | Undisclosed | Fleaflicker is a popular fantasy sports site. Press Release | TechCrunch | BNet |
| Expensr | Strands | Undisclosed | Expensr is an online personal finance application. Press Release | ReadWriteWeb |
| gBox | eFORCE | Undisclosed | gBox is a music store that makes a gift-giving widget that allows you to buy DRM-free music from your wishlist or your friends wishlist. TechCrunch |
| MeeVee | Live Universe | Undisclosed | MeeVee integrates online TV lisiting with video. TechCrunch | CenterNetworks WashingtonPost |
| Inquisitor | Yahoo | Undisclosed | Inquisitor is a browser plug-in that offers search assistance features for a faster way in which to dig down into search results. Press Release | Mashable | CNET |
| Cnet | CBS | $1.8 Billion | CNET Networks is a publicly held media company with a focus on technology. TechCrunch | Mashable GigaOm VentureBeat |
| Ars Technica | Conde Nast | $25 Million | Ars Technica is a technology blog. Press Release TechCrunch | VentureBeat |
| StarBrand Media | Sugar Inc. | Undisclosed | StarBrand provides an online marketplace for a number of major television shows, allowing viewers to purchase the clothes and props they see on TV. Press Release | TechCrunch |
| M:Metrics | ComScore | $44 Million | M:Metrics is the trusted source and recognized leader of mobile media measurement. Press Release | VentureBeat | BNET |
| Celebrity Baby Blog | People.com | Undisclosed | Celebrity Baby Blog was started in 2004 by Danielle Friedland. TechCrunch | Mediaweek |
| Snapvine | WhitePages.com | $20 Million | Snapvine is a VOIP/Widget startup. Press Release | TechCrunch | Mashable |
| SwapDrive | Symantec | $123 Million | SwapDrive is an Online Backup Service. Press Release | TechCrunch | ComputerWorld |
| Hostopia.com | Deluxe | $122 Million | Hostopia.com is a web hosting and design company. Press Release | Forbes |
Social Networking Companies Acquired in Q2 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
| Imity | Zyb | Undisclosed | Imity is a mobile social network. Press Release | TechCrunch |
| Rupture | Electronic Arts | $30 Million | Rupture is a social network gaming startup. TechCrunch | VentureBeat |
| ZYB | Vodafone | $50 Million | ZYB is a mobile phone utility and social networking site. Press Release | TechCrunch | GigaOm VentureBeat |
| StarNet Interactive | IAC | Undisclosed | StarNet Interactive, the parent company of GirlSense, a social network for teen fashion. Press Release | Mashable | WallStreetJournal |
| Plazes | Nokia | Undisclosed | Plazes is a location based social network. TechCrunch | GigaOm | VentureBeat ReadWriteWeb |
Internet Advertising Companies Acquired in Q2 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details | ||
|
|
$300 Million | Adify is a white-label ad platform that allows advertisers to contact small web publishers directly and negotiate ad rates. TechCrunch Mashable VentureBeat GigaOm |
||
| Personifi | Collective Media | Undisclosed | Personifi is a maker of behavioral-based advertising technology focused on ad targeting and content classification. Press Release | TechCrunch |
||
| Navic Networks | Microsoft | Undisclosed | Navic Networks, a maker of television advertising technology. Press Release | NYTimes |
Software Companies Acquired in Q2 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
| Gracenote | Sony | $260 Million | Gracenote is a provider of a wide range of music-related solutions including MusicID. Press Release | TechCrunch Engadget |
| Simple Star | Sonic Solutions | Undisclosed | Simple Star is a developer of photo software and the creator of PhotoShow Press Release | TechCrunch | VentureBeat |
| Diligent | IBM | Undisclosed | Diligent is a storage “de-duplication” company. Press Release | | BNEt |
| EDS | HP | $13.9 Billion | EDS Plano Texas based IT services company. Press Release | VentureBeat | GigaOm |
| Hands-On Mobile Korea | Electronic Arts | Undisclosed | Hands-On Mobile Korea’s hot game is Heroes Lore. BNET | VentureBeat |
| B-hive Networks | Vmware | Undisclosed | B-hive is an Isralei based virtualization company. Press Release | GigaOm |
| OpenAir | NetSuite | $26 Million | Open sells Web-based software aimed at professional services firms. Press Release | TechCrunch | BusinessWeek |
| Let It Wave | Zoran Corporation | $27.6 Million | Let It Wave delivers award winning and patent-pending technology for video Frame Rate Conversion and image enhancement capabilities for flat panel televisions and other consumer electronics products. Press Release | WSJ | BNET |
| Practique Associates | Merced Systems | Undisclosed | Practique Associates is Europes leading sales performance management vendor. Press Release | BNET |
| MusicGremlin | SanDisk | Undisclosed | MusicGremlin is a technology company that develops advanced digital content distribution technologies. Press Release | BNET | Forbes |
| Skywire | Oracle | Undisclosed | Skywire is a maker of insurace software. Press Release | InformationWeek |
| Symbian | Nokia | Undisclosed | Symbian is a mobile operating system that runs on the ARM architecture used in Nokia, Sony and Samsung devices. TechCrunch | Mashable | GigaOm |
Telecom Companies Acquired in Q2 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
| Alltel | Verizon | $28.1 Billion | Alltel is the 5th largest wireless communications provider in the United States. Marketwatch | BNET | Bloomberg |
| Helio | Virgin Mobile | $39 Million | Helio is a US mobile telecom company. VentureBeat | Gizmodo |
Hardware Companies Acquired in Q2 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
| Iomega | EMC | $213 Million | Iomega is a maker of portable hard drives and zip drives. Press Release | TechCrunch |
Web/Internet Companies Acquired in Q3 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
| Powerset | Microsoft | $100 Million | Powerset is a semantic search engine.Press Release | TechCrunch ReadWriteWeb VentureBeat |
| Weather Channel | NBC Universal | $3.5 Billion | Weather Channel is the premier destination on television and the web for weather forecasts. Mashable | CNN Forbes |
| HaloScan | JS-Kit | Undisclosed | HaloScan is one of the largest hosted comments service providers.Press Release | TechCrunch | VentureBeat Mashable |
| Imagekind | CaféPress | $20 Million | Imagekind is a site that allows artists to upload and sell framed prints of their pieces, and also allows users to purchase one-off prints of their own images.TechCrunch | VentureBeat CenterNetworks |
| Truemors | NowPublic | undisclosed | Truemors is a rumor website launched by Guy Kawasaki. Press Release | TechCrunch | Marketwatch |
| ContentNextMedia | Guardian Media Group | $30 Million | ContentNext is an independent media and information company. Press Release | TechCrunch | BNet |
| PodTech | ViewPartner | $500 K | PodTech publishes online and downloadable videos about new technology. VentureBeat | CenterNetworks |
| jkOnTheRun | GigaOm | undisclosed | jkOnTheRun is a mobile focused blog. TechCrunch GigaOm Official Blog |
| Omnisio | unidsclosed | Omnisio is a service that lets users annotate videos, mash various clips up and synchronize Slideshare presentations. TechCrunch | ReadWriteWeb Official Blog |
|
| AbeBooks | Amazon | undisclosed | AbeBooks is an online marketplace for rare out of print books. Press Release | TechCrunch | CenterNetworks |
| DailyCandy | Comcast | $125 Million | DailyCandy is a newsletter service that caters to women. TechCrunch | AlleyInsider VentureBeat |
| Blogcritics | Technorati | undisclosed | Blogcritics is a blog network company founded by Eric Olsen. Official Blog TechCrunch | CNet |
| Ciao (Greenfield Online) | Microsoft | $486 Million | Ciao is a European Comparison Shopping Site. TechCrunch Mahsable InformationWeek |
social.im |
iSkoot |
undisclosed | scoial.im is an instant messaging client for Facebook. Press Release | VentureBeat | TechCrunch |
| Peerflix | LiveUniverse |
undisclosed | Peerflix is a dvd trading company. TechCrunch | PaidContent |
| Napster | BestBuy |
$121 Million | Napster is an on demand music subscription service. Press Release | TechCrunch | Mashable ReadWriteWeb |
Social Networking Companies Acquired in Q3 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
YoVille |
Zynga |
undisclosed | YoVille is a popular virtual world Facebook App.Press Release | TechCrunch |
PartnerUp |
Deluxe |
undisclosed | PartnerUp is a social network for small business owners and entrepreneurs.. Press Release | VentureBeat CenterNetworks Official Blog |
Socialthing! |
AOL |
undisclosed | Socialthing! Is a lifestreaming service that competed with FriendFeed. Press Release | TechCrunch | CNet |
Internet Advertising Companies Acquired in Q3 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
| ZAO Begun | $140 Million | ZAO Begun is a contextual advertising company. TechCrunch VentureBeat CNet |
|
Software Companies Acquired in Q3 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
Jabber |
Cisco |
undisclosed | Jabber is an open source IM technology. Press Release |AlleyInsider | BNEt |
Pure Networks |
Cisco |
$120 Million | Pure Networks makes home networking software.Press Release | TechCrunch | CNet |
Voice Companies Acquired in Q3 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
Ribbit |
British Telecom |
$105 Million | Ribbit is a platform for creating voice-based applications over the Internet. TechCrunch | GigaOm |
PostPath |
Cisco |
$215 Million | PostPath is a linux based e-mail service. PressRelease TechCrunch | CNet |
Web/Internet Companies Acquired in Q4 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
| Lefthand Networks | HP | $360 Million | LeftHand Networks builds IP based data storage systems.Press Release | TechCrunch BNET |
| Bitwine | Monster Venture Partners | Undisclosed | BitWines internet based platform allows individuals to search, buy and sell services in real time. TechCrunch BizJournals |
| DBA | Ebay | $383 Million | DBA is Denmarks leading classifieds site.Press Release | TechCrunch | Mashable |
| Bill Me Later | Ebay | $820 Million | Bill Me Later is an online payment tool that allows individuals to buy now and pay later.TechCrunch | ReadWriteWeb Mashable |
| Polldaddy | Automattic | Undisclosed | Polldaddy provided polling widgets for blogs, websites and social networks. Press Release | TechCrunch | Mashable |
| JungleDisk | Rackspace | $11.5 Million | JundleDisk is an online backup service. Press Release | TechCrunch | BNet |
| Wayport | AT&T |
$275 Million | Wayport is wi-fi hotspot operator. VentureBeat | BizJournals |
| RuTube | GazProm Media | $15 Million | RuTube is a russian video sharing site. TechCrunch SeekingAlpha |
| Clickpass | Synthasite | Undisclosed | Clickpass is an OpenID provider. TechCrunch | VentureBeat Official Blog |
Social Networking Companies Acquired in Q4 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
| Revolution Health | Waterfront Media | $100 Million | Revolution Heath is a health related website and social network.Press Release | TheDeal WashingtonPost |
| socialmedian | $15 Million | socialmedian is personalized news filter for social networks.. Press Release | ReadWriteWeb TechCrunch |
|
Internet Advertising Companies Acquired in Q4 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
| AdEngage | Technorati | Undisclosed | AdEngage is an advertising network based in LA. TechCrunch VentureBeat ReadWriteWeb |
| acerno | Akamai | $95 Million | Acerno is a commerce anlaytics company. Reuters TechCrunch CNET |
| Lookery | Adknowledge | Undisclosed | Lookery provides deomgraphic marketing services in and around social networks. Press Release TechCrunch |
Voice Companies Acquired in Q4 of 2008
| Acquired | Acquirer | Acquisition cost | Details |
| Centennial | AT&T | $944 Million | Centennial Communications is a cellular service provider. TechCrunch | Press Release BNET |
4 Responses to “ Complete List of 2008 Web/Tech/Internet Acquisitions ”
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Pingback from Complete List of Q2 2009 Web, Internet and Tech Acquisitions » The StartUp Blog at PartnerUp
July 14th, 2009 at 12:51 pm[…] for acquisition news in the tech space. Activity remained stagnant like the two previous quarters (Q4 2008, Q3 2008). So have things finally started to turn around this quarter? Drum roll […]
January 7th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
You forgot Intense Debate, which we also acquired.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:31 am
Generally I do not post on blogs, but I would like to say that this post really forced me to do so! really nice post.
May 19th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Useful market info…