M&A

News Byte

Bazaarvoice Acquires PowerReviews for $152 Million in Cash and Stock

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on May 24 at 1:56 pm PT

Austin-based Bazaarvoice has agreed to acquire its close competitor PowerReviews for roughly $151.9 million in cash and stock. According to the terms, Bazaarvoice will pay $31 million in cash and the remainder in stock. Both companies develop technology that help retailers interact with consumers. In particular, PowerReviews was focused on managing and hosting product review sections for e-commerce sites.

News Byte

Facebook Picks Up Design Expertise with Bolt Peters Talent Grab

Tricia Duryee in Social on May 24 at 1:16 pm PT

File this one under a small talent acquisition: Facebook has just “acqu-hired” a number of employees from Bolt Peters, a so-called research and design agency. Co-founder Nate Bolt says it will officially close on June 22, after working on more than 200 projects for 90 clients, including Sony, HP, Electronic Arts and the Washington Post. Most of the company’s six employees will be joining Facebook and reporting to Design Director Kate Aronowitz.

Mobile Gaming Is Hot, but Pocket Gems Won’t Sell Out

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on May 17 at 9:26 am PT

Pocket Gems says it is not for sale, even though other mobile gaming companies like OMGPOP and Funzio are cashing out at big valuations.

Five Questions for Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers

Arik Hesseldahl in News on May 9 at 7:01 pm PT

Leaner and meaner isn’t always enough. After a company-wide restructuring, growing profits is proving tougher than Cisco CEO John Chambers expected. You know, it don’t come easy.

Key Strategic — And Digitally Inclined — CBS Exec Lurie Departs

Kara Swisher in Media on May 8 at 6:00 am PT

Zander says goodbye to the media giant.

Funzio’s Big Exit to Gree Fueled by Only Three Hit Game Titles

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on May 4 at 4:42 pm PT

Funzio’s $210 million sale to Tokyo-based Gree this week makes it the second mobile game company with a relatively short operating history to be snapped up recently.

News Byte

Zillow Acquires RentJuice for $40 Million in Cash

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on May 2 at 3:04 pm PT

Zillow has acquired RentJuice, a San Francisco-based company that provides rental relationship management software for landlords, for $40 million in cash. The announcement was made during the Seattle company’s first-quarter results, which included earnings of $1.7 million on record revenues of $22.9 million.

Japan’s Gree Buys Mobile Social Game Developer Funzio for $210 Million

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on May 1 at 5:09 pm PT

Gree, the Tokyo-based company that bought OpenFeint for $100 million last year and is trying to build a global mobile social network, has acquired Funzio for $210 million.

Bricks vs. Clicks: ShopRunner Takes Aim at Amazon’s Lockers With PickupZone Acquisition

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on April 25 at 3:30 am PT

ShopRunner is expected to announce the acquisition of PickupZone today, which will help the company’s brick-and-mortar partners go head-to-head against the Amazons of the world.