Web Analytics Pioneers Snapped Up

It's consolidation time in the web analytics business. Two of the eight founder members of the young industry's Association have been sold this week. On Monday, Google announced the acquisition of Urchin Software Corporation and yesterday WebTrends was acquired from NetIQ by Francisco Partners.

The founding of the Web Analytics Association was reported in DRNO just five weeks ago ( www.mrweb.com/drno/news3827.htm ).

The Urchin acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, but Google anticipates that it will close before the end of April. Financial terms of the deal were not released. Urchin, based in San Diego, California, helps web site owners and marketers understand user experiences, optimize content and track marketing performance. It is used by over one million sites worldwide, either through in-house software or as an outsourced solution.

Jonathan Rosenberg, Google's VP of Product Management, said Urchin's technology would be 'a valuable addition to Google's suite of advertising and publishing products... We want to provide web site owners and marketers with the information they need to optimize their users' experience and generate a higher return-on-investment from their advertising spending'.

Google, founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, provides the world's most widely used search engine and is headquartered in Silicon Valley. Corporate information about Google can be found at www.google.co.uk/intl/en/corporate/index.html . Urchin is online at www.urchin.com

Private equity firm Francisco Partners paid $94 million in cash for the older-established WebTrends, based in Portland, Oregon - the transaction has the full participation and support of the WebTrends management team, members of which will also be investing in the new business. Current General Manager Greg Drew will be President and CEO of the new standalone WebTrends business.

WebTrends has remained self-sufficient within NetIQ, with its own set of financials, and its sale has been the subject of speculation among analysts for some time. It is online at www.webtrends.com

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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