• SIP
Broadband & Mobile Featured Article
January 04, 2008
Social Networking Site Plaxo is Up for Sale
By Anshu Shrivastava TMCnet Contributing Editor
Plaxo, an early social networking site that helps users keep contact information up to date, is reportedly up for sale, and insiders believe that Facebook (News - Alert) and LinkedIn might be interested in acquiring Plaxo, according to a report in the New York Times.
“It might make sense for a consumer-oriented social network, like Facebook, to acquire a business-oriented social network,” Michael Osterman of Osterman Research, told the New York Times. The report citing sources briefed on the offering said Plaxo is seeking as much as $100 million.
Private Equity Hub -- a blog edited by Thomson (News - Alert) Financial editor-at-large Daniel Primack -- said that Plaxo was considering an unsolicited offer of about $200 million, but had not retained any bank to advise it.
Todd Masonis along with Cameron Ring, and Sean Parker founded Plaxo in 2001. Since then, the company has received more than $20 million in financing from venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital, Globespan Capital Partners, Harbinger Venture Management and Cisco (News - Alert) Systems.
Also, individual investors, like Ram Shriram, a member of Google’s board, and Timothy A. Koogle, a former vice chairman of Yahoo, reportedly have also provided financing.
In October, the company had started Plaxo Pulse, a service that collects information from Facebook, MySpace (News - Alert), Twitter, Digg and others. However, this attempt to move away from Plaxo’s original purpose to keep electronic address books up-to-date did not go down well with some.
Reports suggest that Plaxo’s core business stirred some controversy because it sent out millions of e-mail messages on behalf of its users, which created the impression that the company was distributing spam.
Also, some service providers stopped allowing Plaxo to use their services because of the impressing that it was spamming. Plaxo states that it has 15 million registered users.
Plaxo has hired Revolution Partners, a specialty investment bank, to handle the auction, according to New York Times report.
Anshu Shrivastava is a TMCnet Contributing Editor
Mark your calendars! Internet Telephony (News - Alert) Conference & EXPO — the first major IP
communications event of the year — is just days away. It’s not too late to register for the event, which takes place in Miami Beach, FL, January 23–25, 2008. The EXPO will feature three valuable days of exhibits, conferences and networking that you won’t want to miss. So what are you waiting for? Sign up now!
“It might make sense for a consumer-oriented social network, like Facebook, to acquire a business-oriented social network,” Michael Osterman of Osterman Research, told the New York Times. The report citing sources briefed on the offering said Plaxo is seeking as much as $100 million.
Private Equity Hub -- a blog edited by Thomson (News - Alert) Financial editor-at-large Daniel Primack -- said that Plaxo was considering an unsolicited offer of about $200 million, but had not retained any bank to advise it.
Todd Masonis along with Cameron Ring, and Sean Parker founded Plaxo in 2001. Since then, the company has received more than $20 million in financing from venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital, Globespan Capital Partners, Harbinger Venture Management and Cisco (News - Alert) Systems.
Also, individual investors, like Ram Shriram, a member of Google’s board, and Timothy A. Koogle, a former vice chairman of Yahoo, reportedly have also provided financing.
In October, the company had started Plaxo Pulse, a service that collects information from Facebook, MySpace (News - Alert), Twitter, Digg and others. However, this attempt to move away from Plaxo’s original purpose to keep electronic address books up-to-date did not go down well with some.
Reports suggest that Plaxo’s core business stirred some controversy because it sent out millions of e-mail messages on behalf of its users, which created the impression that the company was distributing spam.
Also, some service providers stopped allowing Plaxo to use their services because of the impressing that it was spamming. Plaxo states that it has 15 million registered users.
Plaxo has hired Revolution Partners, a specialty investment bank, to handle the auction, according to New York Times report.
Anshu Shrivastava is a TMCnet Contributing Editor
Mark your calendars! Internet Telephony (News - Alert) Conference & EXPO — the first major IP
communications event of the year — is just days away. It’s not too late to register for the event, which takes place in Miami Beach, FL, January 23–25, 2008. The EXPO will feature three valuable days of exhibits, conferences and networking that you won’t want to miss. So what are you waiting for? Sign up now!
