E.W. Scripps' $560 million acquisition of Shopzilla forced investors to think hard about whether they were selling too early. As David Shabelman reported in a recent issue of The Deal, Mission Ventures' Robert Kibble wondered as much after the deal closed.

At the time of the sale in June, which pre-empted any plans to go public, Shopzilla was expecting profits of $30 million to $33 million on revenue of between $130 million to $140 million for the year. It now appears to have far exceeded those projections. In the three quarters that Scripps has owned it, Shopzilla's revenue has totaled $154 million, with more than $38.5 million in profits.

Shopzilla could have completed an IPO, but that would have involved less certainty than cash in hand. As exit markets improve, though, it's no surprise that venture capitalists such as Jim Breyer and Tim Draper are publicly encouraging their startups to hold out for an IPO. In the case of Shopzilla, investors made out well despite a case of seller's remorse:

San Diego-based Mission Ventures invested $11 million in three funding rounds totaling $77 million for a 10% stake in the company. It cleared $56 million from the sale, or 5 times its cost. Other investors included Access Technology Partners LP, Media Technology Ventures, HarbourVest Partners LLC, and Westway Capital LLC.

This is the first in a series of posts about venture capital exits from 2005 that are worth revisiting to point out the larger trend they highlight. Each deal is still worth mentioning for the exit strategy pursued, the returns achieved by the investors or the future trends it exemplifies. For a full list of The Deal's VC Deals of 2005, click here. I'll continue to profile some of these deals in the coming days. If you think I've left any notable ones out, let me know.

For more on The Deal's venture capital deals of 2005, see:
The Deal

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