Constant Contact Buys Local Business Info Platform

Internet marketing firm Constant Contact has acquired SinglePlatform, a service providing local business information to a network of more than 200 million consumers, for an initial sum of around $65m in cash.

New York City-based SinglePlatform offers a single site through which businesses can post content accessible by consumers at the moment they are looking to make a purchase decision. Its network includes web sites such as Foursquare, New York Times, YP and UrbanSpoon, along with the company's own social media profiles, web site and mobile site.

Constant Contact says the acquisition will complement its own suite of online engagement marketing tools, which support e-mail marketing, social media marketing, event marketing, local deals and online surveys.

CEO Gail Goodman comments: 'It's absolutely critical that small businesses are listed everywhere to ensure they are found when and where consumers are looking. SinglePlatform makes that incredibly simple - update your information once, and it's delivered to all the important search engines, apps, directories and review sites.'

In addition to the $65m paid, Constant Contact has granted approximately $5m in cash and equity compensation for employee retention purposes. Under the terms of the agreement, Constant Contact may also pay an additional consideration of between $10m and $30m if SinglePlatform achieves certain revenue objectives during the next two years.

Following the acquisition, all SinglePlatform's employees will join the Constant Contact team, and the firm's CEO Wiley Cerilli will become VP and General Manager of SinglePlatform, reporting directly to Goodman.

Earlier this year, Constant Contact acquired loyalty platform CardStar, which enables merchants to track consumer behavior and trends using data aggregated from its users, in order to send them personalized offers.

Web sites: www.constantcontact.com and www.singleplatform.com .