Fusion Corporate Partners

AOL has agreed to acquire TechCrunch, the company that owns and operates TechCrunch and its network of websites dedicated to technology news, information and analysis. TechCrunch and its associated properties and conferences will join the AOL Technology Network while retaining their editorial independence, further bolstering AOL’s position as one of the world’s leading providers of high-quality, tech-oriented content. The announcement will be made on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, CA.

“Michael and his colleagues have made the TechCrunch network a byword for breaking tech news and insight into the innovative world of start-ups, and their reputation for top-class journalism precisely matches AOL’s commitment to delivering the expert content critical to this audience”
.Founded by Michael Arrington, TechCrunch operates a global network of dedicated properties from Europe to Japan, as well as vertically-oriented websites, including MobileCrunch, CrunchGear, TechCrunchIT, GreenTech, TechCrunchTV and CrunchBase. The TechMeme Leaderboard ranks TechCrunch as the No. 1 source of breaking tech news online, followed by AOL’s Engadget.*

“Michael and his colleagues have made the TechCrunch network a byword for breaking tech news and insight into the innovative world of start-ups, and their reputation for top-class journalism precisely matches AOL’s commitment to delivering the expert content critical to this audience,” said Tim Armstrong, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AOL. “TechCrunch and its team will be an outstanding addition to the high-quality content on the AOL Technology Network, which is now a must-buy for advertisers seeking to associate their brands with leading technology content and its audience.”

Heather Harde, Chief Executive Officer of TechCrunch, said: “TechCrunch and AOL share a motivating passion for quality technology news and information, and we’re delighted about becoming part of the AOL family. This represents a compelling opportunity to extend the TechCrunch brand while complementing the great work of sites like Engadget and Switched. Our contributors, and our audiences, can look to the future with excitement about what we can build when we have the significant resources of AOL behind us.”

Michael Arrington, Founder and Co-Editor of TechCrunch, said: “Tim Armstrong and his team have an exciting vision for the future of AOL as a global leader in creating and delivering world-class content to consumers, be it through original content creation, partnerships or acquisitions. I look forward to working with everyone at AOL as we build on our reputation for independent tech journalism and continue to set the agenda for insight, reviews and collaborative discussion about the future of the technology industry.”

TechCrunch also hosts industry-leading conferences and events, including The Disrupt series, The Crunchies Awards and various meet-ups worldwide. These conferences bring together industry innovators, entrepreneurs and financing sources to exchange ideas, forge new relationships and discuss the current and future industry trends.

“Engagement with thought leaders is as important to AOL as our engagement with our contributors, audiences, publishers and advertisers, and TechCrunch’s conferences and websites will give us a promising, additional springboard to join and amplify these conversations. We’re committed to quality in everything we do at AOL, and look forward to working with Heather, Michael and the TechCrunch team to extend the brand,” said David Eun, President of AOL Media and Studios.

The AOL Technology Network consists of AOL’s tech-oriented properties including Engadget, the Web magazine about everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics; Switched, which covers the intersection of the digital world with entertainment, sports, art, fashion and lifestyle; TUAW, the unofficial Apple weblog; and DownloadSquad, the weblog about downloadable software and other computer subjects. The AOL Technology Network ranks in the top five for tech news according to comScore Media Metrix, August 2010 data, and leads the top five in average time spent and average visits per user.

This acquisition will further AOL’s strategy to become the global leader in sourcing, creating, producing and delivering high-quality, trusted, original content to consumers. TechCrunch will remain headquartered in San Francisco, CA, as a wholly owned AOL unit. Deal terms were not disclosed.

USA, New York, NY & San Francisco, CA

Related story

• AOL acquires social software start-up Thing Labs Posted in September 29, 2010

AOL has acquired Thing Labs, whose Brizzly family of web-based social software makes it easy and fun for users to create, share, explore and enjoy content. The Brizzly team will play a key role in helping AOL provide consumers with the best possible venues to discover and share content with each other. Over time, AOL expects to integrate aspects of the Brizzly service into its popular Lifestream product, its social aggregator and publisher, and AIM, AOL’s flagship messaging platform. The Brizzly team will join AOL’s Consumer Applications Group, where Thing Labs Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jason Shellen and Christopher Wetherell, Vice President of Product and Engineering, will lead the AIM product suite, including Lifestream.

“AOL is a different company than it was even a year ago. We have to fundamentally change the way we think about the consumer experience and the team at Thing Labs has a vision and a track record of success that we think will help truly transform the messaging space,” said Brad Garlinghouse, President of AOL’s Consumer Applications Group. “The team represents a great combination of vision, product knowledge and experience building innovative social products and we believe their contribution will further complement the exciting work that the Lifestream and AIM teams at AOL are doing.”

Founded in June 2008 and based in San Francisco, CA, Thing Labs creates web-based software that encourages and inspires users to share great content. Its applications include Brizzly, which allows users to view and post updates to Twitter and Facebook; Brizzly Picnic, a group chat site; Brizzly Guide, a site dedicated to explaining social media trending topics in real time, and Brizzly for iPhone. Prior to founding Thing Labs, Shellen and Wetherell were instrumental in creating Google Reader, which allows users to aggregate their most important content.

“AIM, Lifestream and Brizzly are really complementary and we can’t wait to begin exploring how we can combine and enhance them to improve AIM and Lifestream,” said Shellen. “AOL and Thing Labs share a creative vision that the Web should be fun, effortless, inspiring and trusted.”

Lifestream enables users to view status messages and posts from their friends on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Delicious, Digg, Flickr, YouTube and much more — all in one place, from anywhere. Launched within AIM in 2009 and now also available as a standalone desktop product and on mobile platforms, it is one of the largest social aggregators on the Web, with more than four million unique visitors.*

This acquisition supports the AOL Consumer Applications Group’s mission to redefine the way people share and connect on the Web. Deal terms were not disclosed.

USA, New York, NY & San Francisco, CA

LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, has agreed to acquire ChoiceVendor, a startup that provides real-world ratings and reviews of business-to-business service providers in more than 70 categories across the United States. Financial terms of the acquisition are not being released.

“Our acquisition of ChoiceVendor is right in line with our top priority to build a world-class team at LinkedIn, says Jeff Weiner, chief executive officer of LinkedIn. “We’ve admired the work that Yan-David, Rama, and the talented ChoiceVendor team have done for some time now and are excited to have them join us, especially given their highly relevant work experience.”

ChoiceVendor is based in San Francisco and was founded by chief executive officer Yan-David Erlich and vice president of engineering Rama Ranganath. Prior to founding ChoiceVendor, Yan-David was an entrepreneur in residence at Battery Ventures and the founder and CEO of Mogad/Social.IM which was acquired by iSkoot in 2008. Previously, he also held software engineering and product management roles at Microsoft and Google. Rama was at Google before founding ChoiceVendor where he was an early engineer on the AdSense team and eventually managed several teams including the Google Ad Manager team. Prior to that, Rama worked at Microsoft.

“Since Yan-David and I worked with members of the LinkedIn team in the past during our time at Google, we’ve kept a sharp eye on the company’s phenomenal growth,” said Rama Ranganath, one of ChoiceVendor’s co-founders. “We’re excited about the direction that LinkedIn is headed, particularly in terms of helping its members derive valuable business insights from the site, and are looking forward to joining the team.”

USA, Mountain Views, CA

Related article – LinkedIn acquires mSpoke Posted on August 13, 2010

Kendall Law Group is investigating Internet Brands for shareholders in connection with the proposed acquisition by an affiliate of Hellman & Friedman Capital Partners VI, L.P. The national securities litigation firm is investigating whether a fair process was used prior to entering into the merger agreement and whether the Board of Directors breached their fiduciary duties by not seeking a deal that would provide better value of the Company. 

On September 20, 2010, the companies announced the definitive merger agreement under which Internet Brands would be acquired by an affiliate of Hellman & Friedman in a transaction valued at approximately $640 million. Under the terms of the agreement, Internet Brands stockholders will receive $13.35 in cash for each outstanding share of Internet Brands/INET common stock held. While this offer represents a 46.5% premium over the closing price on September 17, 2010, Internet Brands stock was trading for close to $11.00 per share earlier this month. The firm believes that transaction may be significantly undervaluing the company.

USA, Dallas, TX

Related articles:

• Internet Brands to be acquired by PE firm Hellman & Friedman for $640 million Posted on September 21, 2010
• Internet Brands acquires DoDTracker.com and PursePage.com Posted on April 28, 2010
• Internet Brands acquires online professional directory network ExpertHub Posted on April 28, 2010