ONLINE RECRUITMENT M&A

There has been speculation lately about Monster Worldwide being for sale, including a story in Reuters last Friday about LinkedIn’s potential interest in the Internet jobs search company. However, after conducting an initial assessment, LinkedIn has stated that it has no plans to acquire Monster. Besides looking at Monster’s strategic options, Silver Lake Partners has been mentioned as a potential private equity buyer.

Monster, which acquired rival HotJobs.com in 2010, is facing competition from a number of aggregators such as Indeed.com and SimplyHired.com. CareerBuilder, another one of Monster’s competitors, made two acquisitions in April. The online career site acquired CEVIU and Top Language Jobs last month to further solidify its international presence.

In a March blog post, Berkery Noyes considered M&A activity in human resources technology, with an emphasis on how cloud computing and SaaS are impacting the landscape. Oracle’s acquisition of Taleo for $1.9 billion, a talent management deal announced in February, is the most prominent example.

A more recent transaction, CallidusCloud’s acquisition of 6FigureJobs, also confirms this trend. 6FigureJobs focuses on resources and content for recruiters and senior level job seekers in an income range over $100k. The recruiting process now often includes video resumes, as well as social and mobile technologies during the interview phase, making M&A an attractive option for enterprises seeking to improve their HR offerings.

MOBILE MARKETING AND ADVERTISING M&A

In Berkery Noyes’ first quarter 2012 Online and Mobile press release, we discussed M&A surrounding mobile marketing and advertising. Digital marketing, examined as a subset of the e-marketing and search segment, experienced a seven percent increase in M&A activity in the first three months of 2012.

In particular, we noted SingTel’s acquisition of Amobee for $321 million. Amobee just made its own acquisition, buying AdJitsu from Cooliris nearly a week ago. This acquisition will allow Amobee to leverage AdJitsu’s 3D mobile ad technology. One key aspect of product development in mobile advertising, as indicated by Amobee’s acquisition of AdJitsu, is for companies to make ads more interactive – with the end goal of increasing consumer engagement and brand loyalty.

There have been other recent deals in this space as well. For example, Monster Offers and Ad Shark announced last Wednesday that they have agreed to merge. Ad Shark is a subsidiary of Iconsys, an app technology developer. This transaction indicates a strategic fit between a daily deal analytics aggregator (Monster Offers) and a mobile advertising platform (Ad Shark).

With the ongoing need for technological innovation this nascent market, M&A provides a logical pathway for companies to attain the necessary expertise and cutting edge tools that will place them in a strong position going forward.

LOCATION BASED APPS AND SOCIAL DISCOVERY M&A

Facebook has made several recent, albeit distinct, mobile acquisitions leading up to its initial public offering (IPO). We’ve discussed the acquisitions of Instagram and Tagtile in our previous posts. With its latest acquisition, Facebook has gained a new technology in the “social discovery” space.

A few days ago, Facebook acquired Glancee, a location based and social discovery app for iOS and Android. Glancee matches users based on interests they have in common or that are relevant to one another. The tool aims to reveal hidden connections. According to PC Magazine, Facebook was also interested in Highlight, one of Glancee’s larger competitors.

Another similar transaction this year was Groupon’s acquisition of Ditto.me, a social recommendation app. Going beyond the check-in feature of many location apps, Ditto.me allows users to ask their friends for suggestions on everything from places they should visit to restaurants they should patronize. As indicated in Berkery Noyes' first quarter Media and Marketing press release, Groupon has been an active acquirer in 2012, completing five Information Industry transactions so far. 

CUSTOMER RELATIONS SOFTWARE AND TECH M&A

Transaction volume relating to customer relations software increased 33 percent between 2010 and 2011, from 67 to 89 transactions. There have been several notable transactions thus far in 2012 as well. 

Most recently, IBM announced its acquisition of Tealeaf Technology. Tealeaf, with its array of analytics software, allows marketers to gain additional insight as to how customers interact with business websites. With this knowledge, companies are better positioned to improve their digital marketplace and therefore the online consumer experience. One key goal behind acquiring Tealeaf is for IBM to build momentum behind its “Smarter Commerce” initiative.

A few days before the announced acquisition of Tealeaf, Intuit announced its acquisition of Demandforce for $423 million. Demandforce enables small and medium sized businesses to automate their marketing and customer communications. Intuit believes Demandforce’s SaaS model will help them grow their customer base and revenue per customer. 

Also of note, Facebook acquired another mobile company in April besides Instagram. Tagtile, a startup, is a more traditional type of acquisition for Facebook. Tagtile is used by businesses to increase their number of repeat purchasers. Consumers can download an iOS or Andoid app to pay for purchases, which allows them to earn loyalty points. Business owners benefit by collecting data that allows them to engage in specialized direct marketing campaigns.

ONLINE AND MOBILE PHOTO SHARING M&A

There’s been a lot of discussion lately about Facebook’s announced acquisition of Instagram for $1 billion. The product nature of the deal was similar to AOL’s acquisition of Hipster, an iOS and Android photo sharing app, for an undisclosed sum. 

What’s not as obvious is that some smaller photo sharing transactions have been occurring as well. For instance, Shutterfly, an Internet-based social expression and publishing service, is planning to acquire Kodak Gallery’s online photo sharing platform for nearly $24 million.

In the month prior to Shutterfly’s announcement, Imaging Spectrum acquired Express Digital Graphics. Express Digital’s products – which include Darkroom Software, Photoreflect.com, and Labtricity – are tailored to professional photographers. Instagram and Hipster, meanwhile, are used by everyday mobile users.  

One interesting mobile app deal, RadiumOne’s acquisition of Focal Labs, occurred in the fourth quarter of 2011. With this transaction, RadiumOne is gaining Clixtr and PicBounce, two apps that allow users to share their photos more easily.