eBay in deal to acquire StumbleUpon for $75 million

[mandy]

TechCrunch breaking the story:

High-flying startup StumbleUpon has been rumored to be in acquisition discussions since at least last November. Recently we’ve heard that talks have heated up again, with Google, AOL and eBay as potential suitors. A source with knowledge of the deal now says the company has signed a term sheet with eBay to be acquired. The price is somewhere between $40 - $75 million. (update: GigaOm is now reporting the price at a $40 - $45 million).

StumbleUpon lets users rate websites via a browser toolbar. At any time a user can click “Stumble!” and will be taken to a website highly rated by other StumbleUpon users who tend to vote in a similar way as the person “stumbling.” More often than not, it’s something almost serendipitously interesting to the reader. The company expanded into video referrals in late 2006...

full article: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/18/stu...-acquired/

GigaOm on eBay's reasons for wanting StumbleUpon:

Look at this from the toolbar-and-Skype lens. StumbleUpon makes a toolbar that provides collaborative serendipity to find web sites. The toolbar, if you ask StumbleUpon users provides more useful and productive results, than say Google.

By marrying the toolbar to Skype client, eBay can do an end run around Google’s dominance of the search business. A simple search box inside Skype client is all it would take. It is not that far fetched: Skype has been slowly integrating various different services (including PayPal) into its client, and slowly becoming eBay’s desktop backdoor....

full article: http://gigaom.com/2007/04/18/ebay-likely...umbleupon/

In retaliation for losing the bidding, Google announced plans to launch a StumbleUpon competitor:

You already know that search is at the core of everything we do: we want to deliver useful and relevant information every time you do a search. But what about when you don't have a query in mind, or if you just don't feel like typing in a query? Today we're releasing two features that reduce the need for you to type in specific queries to get the information you want. Both of these are available to Search History users.

The first is a recommendations button on the Google Toolbar that looks like a pair of dice. Click on the dice, and we'll take you to a site that may be interesting to you based on your past searches. If you want another, just click the dice again and we'll show you a new one. We'll give you up to 50 new sites per day that might be of interest. Just add the button to your Toolbar. (In order to use this feature, you need the latest version of the Toolbar.)...

full article: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/s...query.html

[mandy]

update:

Internet auction site eBay is in "advanced talks" to acquire Web-ratings site StumbleUpon, according to a report Tuesday night in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required). The deal could be worth $75 million according to the newspaper, which cited unnamed sources.

The sources told the newspaper that the deal for StumbleUpon was not final and could fall apart...

full article: http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9717453...l?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

[mandy]

Scot Wingo on eBay's possible reasons for chasing StumbleUpon:

So here's how SU fits into the eBay "where we play' framework:

  1. Buy - You have the foundation for a nice little eBay buyer recommendation engine.  eBay has never been able to crack this one, so this could be great.  eBay has the ingredients ready made:  11m+ listings, millions of people in a community, etc.  One of the challenges is going to be mapping a general web reco engine to a database of listings that on average have a 7 day lifespan.  By the time you get enough recos from the community and build out the map, the landscape changes.  You could get around this by putting it on Store listings (longer life) or maybe EE (heck both) or shopping.com even.  This could be huge for Kijiji (just kidding, I can't resist typing Kijiji - Kijiji, Kijiji, Kijiji, Kijiji - phew that's out of my system now - try it at home folks, this is the strangest thing you'll ever type).  Buy - great fit - Check.
  2. Pay - Once you've built out Buy, you can default to have the recos only serve up items that take PayPal.  Check.
  3. Communicate - I'm not a big Skype fan, so let's assume that Om is onto something here. Check.

full article: http://ebaystrategies.blogs.com/ebay_str...leupo.html

[mandy]

6 weeks later - rumour becomes fact:

Announcement to eBay users:

***A Message From Bill Cobb  StumbleUpon Joins eBay Inc. Family*** 

May 30, 2007 | 02:03PM PST/PT

Bill Cobb
Hi everyone...Bill Cobb here, President of eBay North America. We at eBay Inc. are always exploring opportunities in new technologies and businesses --especially ones that pioneer new communities and instill trust.

I'm really happy to share the news with you that eBay Inc. has just acquired StumbleUpon (www.StumbleUpon.com). StumbleUpon offers a unique finding experience that introduces people to interesting and relevant web content that has been recommended by others in the community with similar interests. StumbleUpon is a great way to explore the Internet when you're not sure what you are looking for, or when you want to make discoveries around your particular interests.

Our intent is to support the growth and evolution of this community-based business, and StumbleUpon will run as a separate business unit within eBay Inc. Although there are no definite plans to share at this time, as the site evolves, we'll be exploring the possibilities for synergies between StumbleUpon and eBay marketplaces, Skype, and PayPal. We'll be sure to keep you posted.

Sincerely,

Bill Cobb
President, eBay North America

Press release:

eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) today announced it has acquired StumbleUpon, an early-stage company that helps people discover and share content online, for an aggregate transaction value of approximately $75 million. This acquisition will provide eBay with in-depth exposure to a fast-growing community-based service with approximately 2.3 million users. StumbleUpon gives people a new way to discover relevant and entertaining content based on personal preferences and community recommendations.

"StumbleUpon is a great fit within our goal of pioneering new communities based on commerce and sustained by trust," said, Michael Buhr, senior director, eBay. "StumbleUpon's downloadable toolbar provides an engaging and unique experience to its users, but it is the similarities in our approaches to the concept of community that make it such a compelling addition to eBay."

Driven by word-of-mouth, the StumbleUpon community has grown 150 percent year over year and delivers approximately five million new recommendations a day to its large, highly engaged user base. StumbleUpon allows people to discover Web sites, people, videos, product information, communities and other online content based on personal interests. By allowing its community to rate the content, StumbleUpon gets smarter as it is used and provides an increasing level of relevance over time.

Said Garrett Camp, chief architect and one of three StumbleUpon founders, "We're excited about joining eBay, as we share the same values around community and we look forward to working with them to accelerate our growth."

Buhr will serve as general manager of StumbleUpon effective immediately. StumbleUpon's current founders and management team will remain in their respective positions and will work with Buhr to enhance the user experience, evolve its unique product and grow the community.

eBay does not expect this acquisition to have a material impact on its financial guidance as issued in conjunction with its first quarter earnings release on April 18, 2007.

About StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon helps you discover and share great Web sites and videos. With approximately 2.3 million users and approximately five million recommendations daily, StumbleUpon is one of the most popular new ways to discover content on the Web. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.StumbleUpon.com.

http://investor.ebay.com/releasedetail.c...eID=246467