Google to acquire DoubleClick for $3.1B

Seeking to expand its already well-honed ability to sell targeted Internet advertisements, online search leader Google Inc. said it has agreed to pay $3.1 billion in cash to acquire ad-management technology company DoubleClick Inc.

The two companies announced the deal after the markets closed Friday. The boards of both companies have approved the takeover, which is expected to close by the end of the year.

New York-based DoubleClick helps its customers place and track online advertising, including search ads, which Google — more than its nearest search competitors Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) and Microsoft Corp. — has turned into an extremely lucrative business.

Shares of Mountain View-based Google rose 3 cents to $466.32 in after-hours trading. DoubleClick has been privately held since 2005.

The sellers are San Francisco-based private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, along with JMI Equity and DoubleClick management.

Commentary:
From DoubleClick’s announcement of the exchange:

Using the new platform, publishers and other sellers make specific inventory available for purchase. Sellers define a minimum bid value - or “reserve price” - for the inventory and specify rules to restrict certain advertisers, formats and content. In parallel, buyers specify the inventory they wish to purchase, and the associated bid value for that inventory. They can also specify a rule to dynamically control the bid so that the bid price is automatically adjusted in line with inventory performance.

From the New York Times:

DoubleClick, which was founded in 1996, provides display ads on Web sites like MySpace, The Wall Street Journal and America Online as well as software to help those sites maximize ad revenue. The company also helps ad buyers — advertisers and ad agencies — manage and measure the effectiveness of their rich media, search and other online ads.

DoubleClick has also recently introduced a Nasdaq-like exchange for online ads that analysts say could be lucrative for Google.

“Google really wants to get into the display advertising business in a big way, and they don’t have the relationships they need to make it happen,” said Dave Morgan, the chairman of Tacoda, an online advertising network. “But DoubleClick does. It gives them immediate access to those relationships.”

From Bloomberg

`Deep Pockets’

Google declined to give financial details for DoubleClick, whose headquarters are in the same building as its own New York offices. The purchase eclipses the $1.65 billion Google spent to buy video-sharing Web site YouTube in November and was 50 percent more than Hellman & Friedman had wanted. A person with knowledge of the talks said last month the firm may seek about $2 billion.

“The amount is mind-blowing,” said Richard Fetyko, an analyst at Merriman, Curhan and Ford in New York. Fetyko follows DoubleClick rival AQuantive Inc., which he rates buy and doesn’t own. “Apparently there was very competitive bidding. Microsoft has deep pockets, but apparently everything has its limits.”

Friday’s Trip Around the Blogosphere

Kathy Sierra’s - Creating Passionate Users
You really ought to check out Kathy Sierra’s recent post about “outspending vs. outteaching”.

Is Google Acquiring G.CN ?

The China Search Engine View blog writes:

[W]hen you search the whois here, you may find there is one item more, “Registrant Organization: 北京刘元和君咨询有限公司” (Jan Liu & Associates), the attorney for Google’s case of googel.com.cn and googel.cn. Has Google really got g.cn?
This looks pretty realistic to me – and I must say that it’s an interesting branding play for Google China!

Speaking of Google – Aaron Wall has a great discussion about Google being and invisible hand in online marketing .

Aaron takes a look at the perception of trusted advertisers and how that affects your marketing spend and budget.

Their newest ad unit is an unmarked text link ad, which only displays any ad notification AFTER people hover over the link. Publishers who refuse to sell links directly will publish the ads, and if they spread anything like AdSense does, what happens to links to commercial sites? What happens when virtually nobody is willing to link to a commercial site unless it is through Google? What happens when their affiliate payouts are not high enough to solicit a review? And what happens to those businesses when Googlers decide they want that market for themselves, like real estate?

Zanox Puts CPA on the Forefornt: Completes Swedish Acquisition

Zanox which is a really cool Germany-based startup company that plays in the multi-channel marketing business has announced that they acquired a company called Free Network. This Swedish company is only a few years old but they offer CPA advertising - which is an area of huge growth for online adverting in the next few years.

Verisign Price Increase Letter to Registrars

Here’s a Copy of the letter that all the registrars received as notice of the price increase mentioned earlier.

To All Registrars,

VeriSign, Inc. and it’s wholly owned subsidiaries (”VNDS”) is hereby notifying all registrars of a fee change for .com and/or .net domain names effective October 15, 2007. In accordance with our contract, ICANN has already been notified. Details as follows:

1. VNDS’ fee for each annual increment of a new and renewal .com domain name
registration and for each transfer of a .com domain name registration from one ICANN-accredited registrar to another will be US $6.42, exclusive of any ICANN Variable Registry-Level Fee (as defined in the .com Registry Agreement) or any other ICANN fee;

and

2. VNDS’ fee for each annual increment of a new and renewal .net domain name
registration and for each transfer of a .net domain name registration from one ICANN-accredited registrar to another will be US $3.85, exclusive of any ICANN Variable Registry-Level Fee (as defined in the .net Registry Agreement) or any other ICANN fee.

Except for the above-described fee changes, all other terms of the relevant agreements (.com and .net Registry Agreements and Registry-Registrar Agreements) remain unchanged.

Please contact the Customer Affairs Office at xxx@XXXXXXXXXX.com if
you have specific questions regarding this notice.

Best regards,

XX XXXXXXX
Director, Customer Support
VeriSign, Inc.

Verisign Raising Prices of .COM/.NET in October 2007

Verisign has announced today that they will be raising prices of .COM/.NET in October 2007.

This 7% increase means that Verisign will make an additional $27 million per year.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — Apr 5, 2007 — VeriSign, Inc. (NasdaqGS:VRSN - News), the leading provider of digital infrastructure for the networked world, today announced, effective Oct. 15, 2007, an increase in registry domain name fees for .com and .net, per its agreements with ICANN.

VeriSign announced that as of Oct. 15, 2007, the registry fee for .com domain names will increase from $6.00 to $6.42 and that the registry fee for .net domain names will increase, from $3.50 to $3.85. This will be the first registry fee increase for .com and .net since the fee structure was put in place by ICANN in 1999.

Since 1999, the volume of Internet traffic and domain name system (DNS) queries on VeriSign’s global infrastructure has increased from an average of 1 billion queries per day in the year 2000 to nearly 30 billion queries per day today. Traffic volume continues to increase with the emergence of consumer-driven services, the surge in web-connected wireless devices and the proliferation of DNS-centric technologies and services. In addition, the .com and .net infrastructures are continually being fortified and scaled to defend against increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks. Security exploits have grown by 700 percent since 2000 and are projected to increase by 50 percent in 2007 and 2008.

To address the increase in both DNS volume and cyber attacks, VeriSign recently announced a major initiative entitled Project Titan to expand the capacity of its global Internet infrastructure by ten times by the year 2010. Under Project Titan, over the next three years VeriSign will increase its daily DNS query capacity from 400 billion queries a day to over 4 trillion queries a day and will increase the aggregate network bandwidth of its primary resolution centers around the world from over 20 gigabits per second (Gbps) to greater than 200 Gbps per second. VeriSign will also expand its deployment of Regional Internet Resolution Sites to over 100 locations across the globe by 2010.

Facebook Buy Passed up and Mozilla’s COOP Launch: I bet you Missed these Important Marketing Developments Today

Facebook was a goldmine – and Yahoo passed on it!

Co-written by analyst Mark May, an analyst report that covers consumer Internet, references Facebook’s most recent traffic numbers (about 1.5 billion pages/day) and says social networking could one of the most important growth areas of the Internet over the next five years.

By referencing Facebook’s doubling in growth, the reports also implies Facebook may be worth twice what it was last year, suggesting the business may have a $3 billion value to a buyer based on last year’s supposed $1.6B Yahoo “offer.”

Was Facebook’s Mark Zuckerman ready to sell? – Maybe, should Yahoo have wined and dined him until he was willing to sell. YES.

Mozilla released a new product called the COOP – which is social networking for your browser.

Check out Mozilla’s Coop!

ScanScout Backed By $2 Million In Funding; Launching Tool That Monitors Video Topics For Advertisers

ScanScout, a Cambridge, MA-based startup that has developed a tool that lets online video publishers target the topic of a video, has received $2 million in angel investments, according to Mass High Tech. One of the participants in this first funding round was angel investor Ron Conway, who said he generally invests about $50K in tech companies, but decided to invest $150K in ScanScout, citing growing demand for online video and its ability to attract advertising.

Two former MIT classmates, ScanScout’s president Waikit Lau and CTO Steven Lee, developed the technology, which launches publicly next month. ScanScout monitors the content’s spoken text, audio and images and then select related advertisements that run just below the video screen.

Russia’s Largest eCommerce Site Raises $18m

OZON.ru has raised $18M led by Index Ventures with Holtztbrinck and Cisco. Baring Vostok, a private equity investor, did a $3M acquisition in 2000 of a controlling stake in OZON.ru. OZON.ru claims to be Russia’s largest eCommerce site. It sell books, CDs, DVDs, software, games, electronic products, etc. It says that it delivers more than 3K orders per day. OZON plans to use the capital to build out more distribution centers in Russia.

If you think the Russian eCommerce market is new, take a glance at CISCO’s announcement from Tuesday that they would focus on Russian Venture Capitalism opportunities.

Iminent Brings Video-add-ons to Instant Messaging

Iminent, startup based in France provides video-add-on applications for instant messaging systems. Do you remember the old days of IRC or ICQ? Well, imagine those on steroids! Iminent has secured nearly $4 million from French-Italian investment group 360 Partners, AC reports. Iminent’s video system, which is currently in beta test mode, allows users to make short videos and attach them to IM when chatting. IMer’s can use “emovids,” which is a short animation that is intended to serve the same function as an emoticon. The company’s website says that the application is free, though it offer any other details about how it is to be marketed.

Russia’s Yandex Acquires Biz Social Networking Site

Yandex, the Russian portal and WiFi network operator, has acquired Moikrug.ru, which claims to be the country’s largest social networking site for professionals. This is much like Linkedin, but in the Russian business space. Moikrug roughly translates to MyCircle.
Regular and active a:c euro reader Yakov Sadchikov, co- founder of Russia-based search company Quintura, uses the term ‘acq-hired’ to describe the deal, suggesting the know-how and experience of the team at Moikrug was the attraction. Moikrug is said to have some 100k registered users.
No disclosure on price but rumors range from $1.5M to up to $5M including cash and Yandex stock options.

Read the full story - Yandex buys social network MoiKrug.ru

Top University Sites that Google Trusts (Top 20)

Check this out!

Alexander Fedrov has posted the top 20 universities (American), that have the highest Google “Conditional Trustrank”.

1. [uic.edu] trust [673]
2. [uiowa.edu] trust [580]
3. [byu.edu] trust [564]
4. [mit.edu] trust [457]
5. [loyno.edu] trust [428]
6. [umn.edu] trust [383]
7. [uoregon.edu] trust [345]
8. [ua.edu] trust [340]
9. [stanford.edu] trust [312]
10. [ucdavis.edu] trust [312]
11. [cwru.edu] trust [269]
12. [vjc.edu] trust [263]
13. [dongguk.edu] trust [245]
14. [case.edu] trust [239]
15. [harvard.edu] trust [223]
16. [cie.edu] trust [210]
17. [ucne.edu] trust [199]
18. [sdsu.edu] trust [199]
19. [cmu.edu] trust [197]
20. [sage.edu] trust [184]

Rick Schwartz Launches Blog - Domain Blogs Worth Reading

Rick Schwartz has launched his new blog, you’ll find valuable insight into how Schwartz runs his business and other domain related activities, including T.R.A.F.F.I.C.

In addition, there are 2 other blogs that you should check out to stay on top of the domain world!
Owen Frager runs a really nice blog with plenty of funky things to keep you busy while you’re working. =)

Frank Schilling is a top notch domainer that you should always be watching and reading to stay on top of whats going on in the industry.

* On a side note, the DNJournal released this week’s top domain sales, the top of the list is Greeting.com @ $350k - this one is from the last Moniker/TRAFFIC auction in Las Vegas.

Korean Video Site PandoraTV Closes $10 Million Financing

Sometimes billed as “the Korean YouTube,” PandoraTV has completed a second funding round of $10 million led by Silicon Valley-based DCM. Previous investors Altos Ventures, STIC International and Saehan Ventures also participated in the round. The funding will be used to support the company’s growth, expand its service offerings and finance the further build-out of its network infrastructure. PandoraTV also reported that David Chao, co-founder and general partner of DCM, has joined its board of directors.
The Seoul-based video sharing site was founded in October 2004. PandoraTV claims to have 12 million monthly uniques.

One aspect that differentiates PandoraTV from other video sharing sites is its concept of “personal TV stations” that allows users to post video clips, run their own TV shows, and even advertise products or services in each personal TV channel. Samsung Electronics and SK Telecom recently launched programming on PandoraTV’s viral service. Release
– The financing comes at an interesting moment for Korea’s entertainment industry. The Hollywood Reporter notes that one aspect of a Free Trade Agreement signed with the U.S. lifts restrictions on the programming of foreign content, while another steps up pressure on South Korean internet service providers to protect intellectual property.

Venture Hacks Guides You Through The VC Process

Started by 2 entrepreneurs, Venture Hacks is worth taking a look at!
I spent some time checking out their site last night and found it to be a great start for anyone that’s looking to learn more and attract some VCs.

Get Caught up on Search Marketing & VC

Kontrib Offers a Digg Alternative for Non-English Speakers

One thing that Digg lacks is foreign involvement due to the interface being in purely English. Kontribb offers the solution!

To submit and vote on articles at Kontrib, you first register. After you submit an article, Kontrib’s linguistic machines immediately translate articles into supported languages. These are Arabic, English, French, and Spanish, with more to come later. Kontrib is slick because it translates both the article summary hosted at Kontrib’s site, and the original article linked to. Comments are also translated.

Until now, language translation has remained clumsy. There are text translation sites such as BabelFish, or Google’s language tool. The coming Worldwide Lexicon Project promises to help bloggers translate their sites by mobilizing interested readers. Human volunteers will translate sites with higher quality, argues Brian McConnell, the project’s leader, and they’ll translate into any language. Though, we’d argue that human efforts will vary in quality.

What is FaceBook up to?

Recent traffic statistics at social networking site Facebook are impressive and we’re wondering if there’s a wider story here.

Facebook tells us the site is seeing about 1.5 billion page views a day, up from about 1 billion daily views last month — statistics that haven’t been released until now. That’s a huge jump.
Read more over at VentureBeat

So How Did you Learn SEO?
Here’s part of Rand Fishkin’s Story about SEOmoz:

“In 2001, the company that would become SEOmoz (at the time just Gillian, Matt & myself) began taking on some e-commerce development projects. Previously, we had designed static websites in Flash & HTML and done some consulting in usability, but with the addition of Matt to the team, we were ready to take on some beefier projects. We designed and developed several sites for clients and”

Rand over at SEOmoz would like to know how you got your start!

ZoomInfo - The HeadHunter’s Best Friend Expands

ZoomInfo today launched its Business Information Search Engine, a service that offers information on more than 3.5 million companies. Although the company profiles are similar to those offered by Hoovers.com and other subscription-based providers, ZoomInfo business profiles are free. More about Zoominfo at Search Engine Land