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DiggWhile we wouldn't put it past Yahoo! Inc. [YHOO] to adopt a "scorched earth policy" and do something self-destructive to avoid being swallowed by Microsoft Corp. [MSFT], its acquisition Wednesday of Tensa Kft., more commonly known as IndexTools, doesn't qualify. Yahoo! didn't disclose terms of the deal, meaning it was small enough to not affect its earnings.
IndexTools makes Web analytics software for online marketing. It provides real-time insight into a visitor's behavior on a Web site in order to help increase sales and encourage visitor retention. The self-funded company was founded in 2000 and claims a 98% customer retention rate. Its competitors include other Web analytics firms such as WebTrends Inc., Omniture Inc. [OMTR], which last year acquired online analytics company Visual Sciences and Coremetrics Inc., which last week announced a $60 million funding round.
IndexTools relied on Jevan Anderson, Tim Karman, Tim Balombin and Faisal Chughtai of RBC Capital Markets as its financial adviser and Balazs Vereb of Andreas Neocleous & Co. as its legal adviser in connection with the deal. Yahoo! did not use a financial adviser, but did get legal input from its outside counsel, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. -- David Shabelman
See April 9 press release from Yahoo!
See October 2007 story from Tech Confidential
See April 4 post from Tech Confidential
See April 9 post from WebAnalyticsDemystified
This is hilarious!! Yahoo acquired Overture a few years ago, who acquired Keylime Software immediately before the Yahoo acquisition. At the time, Keylime was one of the first SaaS analytics apps, along with Omniture and WebSideStory (f/k/a Visual Sciences & now Omniture). So Yahoo, very early on, had their hands on revolutionary technology, but are now spending another chunk on what is really a non-competitor in the grand scheme of the analytics world. Just think if they followed the path of WebSideStory or Omniture, they would have a Billion dollar business unit on their hands.
Just goes to show that if you mess up once, there's always hope and opportunity to mess up again. I guess they weren't forward thinking enough back in 2001, so let's hope the right thinkers are driving the boat now.