Are There Any Great Acquisition Targets In 2007?
I came across this article over at CenterNetworks that discusses 5 great acquisition targets for the first quarter in 2007. While I am not here to agree or disagree with the article I’m not so sure there are any great acquisition targets lying around. I do think there are some great strategic targets that with a little more help can boost the profile of the acquiring company, but is there anyone that is really dominating the web right now?
Maybe I am living under a rock, but don’t things seem to be a bit quiet this year? Last year we couldn’t stop talking about all the fascinating (*cough) startups springing up and what new technologies would take over the web, but this year there hasn’t been much of anything. Joost got its week of glory and when it comes out of beta will probably make some waves, but beyond that what’s happening?
I know some people get worried when they see companies going under or nothing major happening, but this is a good thing. Quiet periods are always good because:
- People stop caring about insignificant copycats and players that just don’t innovate.
- Some people are setting up something big and they can do it without major publicity or pressure.
It is almost as if the web is begging for someone to take it over. Yahoo purchased MyBlogLog in January (wonder if they regret it) and beyond that nobody else has made a move as far as I can remember. Quiet time is good because it helps us get our focus back, which was something we lost during all of 2006. We don’t need fast-paced progress, we just need progress and this is what I am seeing happening now.
What are you defining as great.
Matchup? ROI? A great defensive buy?
Was the last great buy when Google bought applied semantics?
By Mike Papageorge on March 8, 2007 8:42 am
Wait until after SXSW is over, i bet you may change your tune ;)
By Robb on March 8, 2007 9:26 am
I smell yahoo acquiring twitter.
By soxiam on March 8, 2007 10:36 am
From what I understand Yahoo bought mybloglog partly due to its ability to track click throughs on websites that use it. Meaning they can track Google Adsense spots. This brings up an interesting issue since this violates Google’s TOS for all of those that use mybloglog and are running adsense adds.
On the Joost front Im starting to think it will make some bigger waves than we all expect. Ive been a beta tester for a few months and get random emails here and there asking me to send invites. Someone offered me 50 bucks for one so the next logical step was to look at ebay, people are purchasing these things for 75 bucks. Thats just crazy.
By Hornswaggled on March 8, 2007 1:27 pm
I think the time has passed for companies to launch things that are already established (but with one more feature!) thinking that they’ll be luring anyone away from what’s already out there. There will not be another MySpace because all the people needed to join a new social network are… already at MySpace… and they like what they have. No amount of features is better than the idea that “all my friends are here” so therefore it’s a Catch-22. It took a few years for MySpace to develop the following it currently has, and it was a combination of celebrity fuel, a large and pre-existing email address marketing list, time, and luck.
By Mike Rundle on March 8, 2007 3:52 pm
It’s proof time. It’s like a farmer’s field where the strongest seedlings will grow taller and block the sun for the weaker ones. In Q3-4 of ‘07 and Q1-2 of ‘08 we’ll see which of the tall ones produce the best fruit, and which get plowed under as fertilizer for the next crop.
By Paul Short on March 8, 2007 5:20 pm
Whats going down over at SXSW?
I believe that we all just need to sit back and acquire our own projects at this time and allow the peace to reign for a bit more that way we can all release on the same day and no one can get proper PR coverage.
;)
By Broc on March 9, 2007 1:04 pm
Twitter seems like the obvious answer based on hype/buss but by whom and to what end? How do you make money off of web developers in their thirties sending text messages to each other like they’re 13 year old girls?
After checking out the CenterNetworks article, someone buying CrazyEgg seems like Measure Map: The Sequel to me. You guys remember Measure Map, right?
By Link on March 9, 2007 4:34 pm
Can someone explain why Twitter would be such a great buy? Just curious, having not even been to the site myself… What would the 30 second pitch be?
By Mike Papageorge on March 9, 2007 8:11 pm
Twitter is retarded. It’s blogging from your cel phone. Basically anything that Steve Rubel thinks is cool is guaranteed to stink.
By ted on March 12, 2007 5:33 pm
Link: I remember MeasureMap… what ever happened to that? And did CrazyEgg ever launch?
As for Twitter, I still refuse to use it… people insist it’s so useful but I really think there are better ways for one to waste their time!
By Montoya on March 15, 2007 10:51 pm
Feedburner. Hands down.
By Justin Gardner on March 16, 2007 10:45 am
Not that it’s very Web 2.0, but Cisco scooping up WebEx for $3.2 billion makes me wonder if the we’re looking at the wrong targets.
Maybe the consolidation will be the old guard amalgamating established services as they try to deal with the newer services?
By Rick Turoczy on March 16, 2007 11:30 am
9rules! ??
By Paul on March 22, 2007 11:01 pm
We thought web 2.0 was too full of copycats too. We cottoned onto the potential of web 2.0 a couple of years ago and thought we may have missed the boat, but then it kind of stagnated, so we built a product: PlanHQ (www.planhq.com) which is all about taking your business plan out of the bottom drawer and making it an active, valuable part of running your business every day.
By Natlie ferguson on April 12, 2007 4:00 am