We reported back in January that we heard Pluck was for sale. Today it’s being reported that Demand Media, run by former MySpace Chairman Richard Rosenblatt, is acquiring the company for between $50M and $60M. Pretty good for a company with about $10M in 2007 revenue. Mashable has good coverage of the news with Rosenblatt and Pluck CEO Dave Panos.
Zales and Gordon’s Jewelers joined the long list of top e-commerce websites that utilize Bazaarvoice’s ratings and reviews technology. That little jewelry store in the mall is a $2.1B per year business that has 2,200 retail outlets. Bazaarvoice’s advanced word-of-mouth analytics tools allow Zales to tune into this archive of customer opinions in order to bring marketing and merchandising strategies in line with customer tastes and preferences. Recent research from Bazaarvoice and Keller Fay Group shows that 79% of reviewers write reviews in order to reward a company and 70% want to help a company improve the products they build and carry, and Zales’ use of customer feedback to drive customer-centric decisions aligns exceptionally well with their reviewers’ intentions.
“Our research shows that reviewers are overwhelmingly motivated by the desire to help others make the best possible purchase decision,” said Brett Hurt, CEO of Bazaarvoice. “This not only benefits other shoppers, it also benefits the brand as shoppers buy more and return less. We look forward to continuing to work together with Zales to tap the positive sentiment of their customers and incorporate user-generated content into all aspects of the multichannel shopping experience.”
Austin-based SolarWinds, which makes network management and monitoring software, has been shoring up the board of directors lately. John Thornton of Austin Ventures was added in February, and Salesforce.com CFO Steven Cakebread was announced as another board addition in early February. It’s a pretty odd move for a private company. Unless of course you need enough outside directors to fill up an audit committee, a compensation committee, etc. It would be a big, bold move considering the state of the financial markets. If we see a press release next week with quarterly revenue numbers, then we’ll definitely know that they’re conditioning the market for an IPO.
What would be a good NASDAQ symbol? WIND is taken by Wind River Systems. SOLR? Already taken by Solar-Mates. SLRW seems available. Post your suggestions in the comments.