10 most unsuccessful online acquisitions
The takeover market, which is so interesting to network companies, is now quite developed, so it's time to pay attention to unsuccessful acquisitions. After all, for every successful transaction accounts for at least a dozen failures.
Why this or that purchase can be called unsuccessful? Firstly, because of the high cost. So no one here will discuss transactions in the range of $ 50 million (it is clear that for you and for me it is a solid amount, but, for example, for Google it is not).
Secondly, a project that does not fit into a long-term corporate development strategy can become a failed purchase.
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So, I present to you a list of the 10 most unsuccessful acquisitions on the Internet:
10. Hotmail - acquired by Microsoft in 1998, the cost is about $ 400 million. At the time of the acquisition, the project was the second in the list of the most popular free email services. The purchase did not greatly improve Microsoft’s position in building an online portal.
9. Skype - acquired by eBay in September 2005 for $ 2.6 billion. This project cannot be called unsuccessful - but eBay still has no idea what to do with it, even to at least return the money spent on the purchase. In addition, it is not clear how to integrate Skype into auctions - the main direction of work of eBay.
8. MySimon - acquired by CNET in 1999 for $ 700 million. It was expected that the service, which helps to compare prices in various online stores, will give impetus to the development of new projects that are not related exclusively to the IT industry. However, CNET did not have a clear idea of ​​how to integrate MySimon into its structure, so the service is currently abandoned, and more progressive platforms for price comparison have appeared.
7. BlueMountain.com - acquired by Excite Home in 1999. $ 780 million for the online postcard service. No comments.
6. Lycos - acquired by Terra Networks in 2000 for $ 4.6 billion. I heard nothing more about Terra Networks. In May 2000, when the companies announced the deal, it was about $ 12.5 billion: such a sharp drop in price by the time the transaction was completed in October of the same year was caused by a fall in the market value of both companies.
5. Netscape - acquired by AOL in 1998 for $ 4.2 billion. Honestly, it was a good bargain: at that moment Netscape lost its position “thanks to” Microsoft's Internet Explorer. However, AOL did not have a clear idea of ​​what to do with Netscape, so at the moment you can forget about one of the network market leaders of that time.
4. GeoCities - acquired by Yahoo in 1999 for $ 3.56 billion. When was the last time you visited geocities.com? For example, I do not remember. Soon after the acquisition, the novelty of the service gradually faded away. GeoCities could be MySpace - but the “social Internet revolution” has bypassed it.
3. Excite - acquired by Home in January 1999 for $ 6.7 billion. Remember Excite.com? Remember that once it was the second or third most popular portal? A year and a half after the acquisition of Excite (by the way, at $ 394 per user!), Home went bankrupt.
2. AOL - the company became part of TimeWarner in 2000. Everything is obvious here: this deal was doomed to failure from the very beginning. Shortly after the merger, AOL's business began to rapidly lose ground, pulling TimeWarner along with it. The integration plan did not initially seem reasonable, so all the talk about “successful joint ventures” has long ended.
1. Broadcast.com - acquired by Yahoo in 1999 for $ 5 billion. Each user of the purchased service cost Yahoo $ 710! All this happened, by the way, shortly before the famous “crash of dot-com”. Why is Broadcast.com higher in my ranking than AOL? One reason is Mark Cuban. Thanks to Yahoo's wastefulness, he was able to quietly go out of business, acquire the Dallas Mavericks basketball team and become one of the clearest examples of the realization of the “American dream”. Unforgettably.
Did I miss something?
Why this or that purchase can be called unsuccessful? Firstly, because of the high cost. So no one here will discuss transactions in the range of $ 50 million (it is clear that for you and for me it is a solid amount, but, for example, for Google it is not).
Secondly, a project that does not fit into a long-term corporate development strategy can become a failed purchase.
')
So, I present to you a list of the 10 most unsuccessful acquisitions on the Internet:
10. Hotmail - acquired by Microsoft in 1998, the cost is about $ 400 million. At the time of the acquisition, the project was the second in the list of the most popular free email services. The purchase did not greatly improve Microsoft’s position in building an online portal.
9. Skype - acquired by eBay in September 2005 for $ 2.6 billion. This project cannot be called unsuccessful - but eBay still has no idea what to do with it, even to at least return the money spent on the purchase. In addition, it is not clear how to integrate Skype into auctions - the main direction of work of eBay.
8. MySimon - acquired by CNET in 1999 for $ 700 million. It was expected that the service, which helps to compare prices in various online stores, will give impetus to the development of new projects that are not related exclusively to the IT industry. However, CNET did not have a clear idea of ​​how to integrate MySimon into its structure, so the service is currently abandoned, and more progressive platforms for price comparison have appeared.
7. BlueMountain.com - acquired by Excite Home in 1999. $ 780 million for the online postcard service. No comments.
6. Lycos - acquired by Terra Networks in 2000 for $ 4.6 billion. I heard nothing more about Terra Networks. In May 2000, when the companies announced the deal, it was about $ 12.5 billion: such a sharp drop in price by the time the transaction was completed in October of the same year was caused by a fall in the market value of both companies.
5. Netscape - acquired by AOL in 1998 for $ 4.2 billion. Honestly, it was a good bargain: at that moment Netscape lost its position “thanks to” Microsoft's Internet Explorer. However, AOL did not have a clear idea of ​​what to do with Netscape, so at the moment you can forget about one of the network market leaders of that time.
4. GeoCities - acquired by Yahoo in 1999 for $ 3.56 billion. When was the last time you visited geocities.com? For example, I do not remember. Soon after the acquisition, the novelty of the service gradually faded away. GeoCities could be MySpace - but the “social Internet revolution” has bypassed it.
3. Excite - acquired by Home in January 1999 for $ 6.7 billion. Remember Excite.com? Remember that once it was the second or third most popular portal? A year and a half after the acquisition of Excite (by the way, at $ 394 per user!), Home went bankrupt.
2. AOL - the company became part of TimeWarner in 2000. Everything is obvious here: this deal was doomed to failure from the very beginning. Shortly after the merger, AOL's business began to rapidly lose ground, pulling TimeWarner along with it. The integration plan did not initially seem reasonable, so all the talk about “successful joint ventures” has long ended.
1. Broadcast.com - acquired by Yahoo in 1999 for $ 5 billion. Each user of the purchased service cost Yahoo $ 710! All this happened, by the way, shortly before the famous “crash of dot-com”. Why is Broadcast.com higher in my ranking than AOL? One reason is Mark Cuban. Thanks to Yahoo's wastefulness, he was able to quietly go out of business, acquire the Dallas Mavericks basketball team and become one of the clearest examples of the realization of the “American dream”. Unforgettably.
Did I miss something?
about the author
James Nicholson is one of the founders of NetVentures, bought by CNET in 1999. Subsequently, he held a management position at CNET. In 2001, he “moved away from network business,” traveled the world, opened an art gallery. He lives in New York. Currently working on a new network project.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/30867/
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