What Rosetta Out of the Running Means for Last Big Digital Indie AKQA

http://adage.com/article/agency-news/rosetta-acquisition-means-digital-indie-akqa/227672/

Last fall, General Atlantic was reportedly unable to find a buyer for AKQA, largely because of its asking price for the agency, according to one executive familiar with talks with Dentsu, the most likely buyer at the time.

Rosetta, too, had private equity backing from Lindsay Goldberg, which means, despite agency CEO Chris Kuenne being vocal about staying independent in the past, the company ultimately had one of two options: go public or sell. While Rosetta's $575 million price tag is competitive to what General Atlantic was asking for AKQA last year, some bankers point out that the two agencies are vastly different.

The agency's models are also vastly different. Rosetta claims a more consultative model, while AKQA is known for its high-end creative work and its new forays into digital-media buying and planning.

BzzAgent Sold to Tesco Unit, dunnhumby

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7424963977768217107
Boston social marketing company BzzAgent has been acquired by dunnhumby Ltd., a  shopper data unit of U.K. retail giant Tesco, in a deal that underscores retailers’ growing interest in social media.

The transaction, under which BzzAgent will operate as a stand-alone business, is valued around $60 million to the company’s senior management and investors, said sources.

BzzAgent uses word-of-mouth recommendations to drive brand sales and was founded in 2001 by Dave Balter, who will remain CEO and will also join dunnhumby's executive team. Dunnhumby is behind Tesco’s Clubcard loyalty program and helps retailers create shopper-marketing programs through analysis of consumer buying behavior. Balter said he first contacted the U.K. firm as a way to increase BzzAgent's 'agent' base, beyond its current base of 800,000, and to utilize dunnhumby’s targeting and analytical capabilities to add scale and better measurement.

"They want to be more social; we want access to their customer base,” he said. “Consumer loyalty leads to advocacy which leads to loyalty."

BzzAgent works for marketers like Procter & Gamble, L’Oréal, and Michelin. Dunnhumby was founded in 1989 by husband and wife team Edwina Dunn and Clive Humby. In addition to Tesco, the international firm works for other companies like The Kroger Co., Procter & Gamble, Shell, Coca-Cola, and Mars.

AutoTrader to buy VinSolutions

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2011/05/18/autotrader-to-buy-vinsolutions.html

AutoTrader.com plans to buy auto dealer software provider VinSolutions for an undisclosed sum.

The deal is expected to close by mid-June.
Overland Park, Kan.-based VinSolutions provides Customer Relationship Management, Internet Lead Management, inventory management tools, dealer websites, sales management and desking tools, social media and direct targeted marketing campaign tools.
VinSolutions will become a subsidiary of Atlanta-based AutoTrader.com. It will keep its Overland Park headquarters and its management team led by CEO Mike Dullea and Chief Technology Officer Matt Watson.
"We are thrilled to acquire VinSolutions and add it to our best-in-class portfolio of dealer software solutions companies," said AutoTrader.com President and CEO Chip Perry, in a statement. "Over the last few years, the online marketing and dealer software solutions space has continued to grow and thrive which has been important to dealers' success, but at the same time it has become increasingly challenging and cumbersome. VinSolutions will further ramp up our dealer solutions product suite to provide dealers with a simpler, more functional one-stop-shop solution of Internet marketing software tools accessible by the dealer through a single sign-on tool."

Publicis Groupe to Acquire Digital Shop Rosetta for $575 Million

http://adage.com/article/agency-news/publicis-groupe-acquire-digital-shop-rosetta-575m/227593/
Publicis Groupe has agreed to acquire Rosetta, taking the largest privately owned digital agency off the table. The purchase price is $575 million in cash, plus potential deferred payments dependent on the agency's future performance.

“We paid 13.7 times ebitda for Razorfish while we are paying 12.5 times for Rosetta,” he said. “So yes, if we look at pure revenue, it is more expensive; no, if we look at pure ebitda. If you make a balance of both we are paying at the same price.”

Publicis will pay an additional earn-out bonus to Rosetta’s management after three years if it exceeds certain revenue targets – which were not disclosed – without harming its profitability.

Rosetta's health-care expertise was likely attractive to Publicis. It shares a client in Johnson & Johnson, for which Razorfish does corporate brand and other marketing work.

Mr. Kuenne opened Rosetta's doors in 1998 after having spent a decade in the marketing department at J&J, leading the Band-Aid and Tylenol brands business. His subsequent work as a partner at First Manhattan Consulting Group, where he led its retail marketing practice, has helped to reel in the agency's smattering of retail clients, such as Hallmark, Crane & Co., Things Remembered and Sunglass Hut. Mr. Kuenne will continue to lead the agency, reporting to Jean-Yves Naouri, chief operating officer of Publicis Groupe.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9083ebe2-8092-11e0-adca-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1Mdc4SKYJ

Demandbase secures $10 million in venture funding

Customer-acquisition company Demandbase Inc. has closed a $10 million round of new financing to support accelerated growth of its online business-identification technology.


The new funding was led by Sutter Hill Ventures, along with existing investors Adobe Systems, Altos Ventures and Sigma Partners. The company has raised $27 million in venture underwriting to date.
Demandbase's Business Resolution Platform identifies website visitors by matching IP addresses with companies, to identify business Web traffic without using cookies.

http://www.btobonline.com/article/20110512/STRATEGY09/305129998/demandbase-secures-10-million-in-venture-funding?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=editorial&utm_campaign=dailyclickthroughs

Buddy Media acquires social commerce company Spinback

Buddy Media, the largest Facebook Page management company, which has raised more than $38 million in venture funding, has acquired Spinback, a social e-commerce provider. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.


Spinback's EasyShare widget allows customers to share news of their purchases on social networks, while its EasyTrack analytics dashboard enables e-commerce companies to measure the degree of that sharing across the social Web and via emails.

While Spinback primarily serves retailers, Buddy Media said it plans to expand the offering to serve its client list of Fortune 100 marketers and international agencies.
http://www.btobonline.com/article/20110513/SOCIAL0101/305139999/buddy-media-acquires-social-commerce-company-spinback?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=editorial&utm_campaign=dailyclickthroughs#seenit

http://adage.com/article/digital/buddy-media-acquires-spinback-plans-measure-sales-impact-social/227510/

YouTube Founders Acquire Web Analytics Firm

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/09/youtube-founders-acquire-web-analytics-firm/?nl=business&emc=dlbka22

Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, the co-founders of YouTube, are on a shopping spree.
In late April, the pair announced plans to purchase Delicious, the online social bookmarking service, from Yahoo, saving it from  closure.

Now, they’re adding another company to the mix. On Monday, they announced plans to purchase Tap11, an analytics firm that tracks social media.

Mr. Hurley said in a statement that the acquisition was another move toward the pair’s ultimate plan to “create the world’s best platform for users to save, share, and discover new content.”

Tap11 helps businesses understand what is being said about their companies on social media Web sites like as Twitter and Facebook. The purchase of Tap11 will allow the company to provide “powerful tools to publish and analyze their links’ impact in real-time.”

The price of the sale and other financial terms were not disclosed. Both companies will roll into Mr. Hurley and Mr. Chen’s newest venture, AVOS.

The news of Mr. Hurley and Mr. Chen’s purchasing plans has prompted tremendous interest in the tech world. The two men, who started YouTube in 2005, and sold it to Google a year later for a staggering $1.76 billion, have said they plan to keep Delicious, which allows people to make lists deals, of interesting Web sites and share them with friends, intact.

However, the Tap11 news suggests they have a bigger plan in mind to change the way people share content on the Web.