JayWeintraub.com - Internet Advertising Analysis and Growth Insights

PriceGrabber (Up for Grabs III)

For those looking for additional insights on the PriceGrabber acquisition, I recommend David Lewis' prescient Shopping Comparison Scorecard post from June, the month when theShopping.com and Shopzilla acquisitions occurred.

Up for "Grabs" II

Price Grabber acquisition update - An earlier post mentioned Price Grabber being the next comparison shopping engine to be snapped up. That has been independently confirmed and the buyer is now known. While not able to write their name, I can say it is not Valueclick, MSN, News Corp., or Google/Yahoo. The buyer has substantial online assets and has been featured here before. Happy guessing.

Up for "Grabs"

As broken by Josh Stomel, Price Grabber will become the latest comparison shopping acquisition.

In June of this year, eBay bought Shopping.com for $620 million and EW Scripps bought Shopzilla (BizRate.com) for $525 million.

For a complete list of internet advertising deal flow, I recommend Cliff Kurtzman's Online Advertising Industry M&A Deal Flow.

Direct Track / LeadClick

Another company announcing a sale is DirectTrack. In correction to my earlier post, this piece applies to DirectTrack and not LeadClick - It is said to be a public company looking to increase its role online. I would be surprised if it's the caliber of a News Corp.

LeadClick Media Acquisition

Three sources have mentioned that LeadClick Media has agreed to be acquired. It is said to be a public company looking to increase its role online. I would be surprised if it's the caliber of a News Corp.

NexTag Correction?

There is a chance the intial post indicating that NexTag was still a possible acquisition target might be off. According those more in the know, they were once being heavily considered by eBay as a candidate instead of Shopping.com. The company may instead seek an IPO.

Update: The latest news is that the company is no longer in active talks and has had to delay plans for a liquidity events. They still know how to make money, but it seems others have excelled better at the art of the deal.

The Loan Page

As reported on John Demayo's blog , mortgage lead generation company The Loan Page is destined to be purchased by House Values. An announcement should go out later this week. HouseValues had a tough start to life and The Loan Page has had a less than stellar end; let's see if together they can acheive the right balance.

LeadClick Update

Chances are the company is looking to take advantage of the increased interest in lead generation, an area largely ignored with respect to capital events. For example, Reply, a lead generation company announced a VC round of I believe $15 million. And, let's not forget the purchases made by Experian of LowerMyBills and ClassesUSA.

LeadClick would be attractive for its revenues, which have grown steadily and their margins which are far ahead of most other lead generation companies. Questions regarding certain practices do exist - inventory, lead quality, daisy chaining - so chances are the company will sell for a price lower than its numbers might suggest to avoid any potential suitor getting too curious.

Lead Click Term Sheet

I hear that little known lead click media - pros at email and squeezing out the maximum value per user are in formal discussions. Looking for confirmation.

Reuters

The London Guardian printed today that Google might have made a bid for news and information company Reuters.