Yahoo! Acquires AMI Planet to Expand Social Networking and Online Auctions
Published May 21st, 2008
Yahoo! Inc. has announced that it will acquire AMI Planet, LLC., a leading online social networking website, to expand state-of-the-art social networking and online auctions on Yahoo!.com and Yahoo!’s network of leading publishers across the web. Under the terms of the agreement, Yahoo! will acquired AMI Planet for approximately $64 million.
Yahoo! and AMI Planet will be able to offer members a larger social networking neighborhood and expand its live auction format. Additionally, Yahoo! has advertising relationships with a growing number of clients including eBay, Comcast, Newspaper Consortium, Forbes.com and others, but this aquirement is not expected to be a direct competition with eBay. AMI Planet’s platform is currently used as a successful social networking community, providing blogging, file storage, live auctions, and entertainment news. Together they will represent one of the biggest social networking platforms in the industry.
Yahoo! intends to invest in the growth of AMI Planet’s overall social networking and auction business by continuing to provide a full variety of social networking solutions. Yahoo! intends to expand on the AMI Planet offering with advanced technologies for its members.
“amiplanet.com is projected to be the fastest growing segment of the online social networking market, and AMI Planet will significantly help advance Yahoo!’s strategy, expanding the social networking and live auction opportunity for its current members. This is a big win for consumers and for Yahoo!,” said Hilary Schneider, EVP, Global Partner Solutions at Yahoo!
Says Rob Adcock, CEO of AMI Planet, “Over the past year, amiplanet.com has emerged as the market leading community platform, serving members worldwide. By combining our capabilities with Yahoo!’s own technology resources, and vast audience reach, we will deliver an unmatched social networking and online auction content to the market.”
Adcock estimates that U.S. online auction sales will grow to more than $4 billion in 2011. This rapid growth in the online auction market is escalating during slumping economic times in the U.S. People are liquidating faster than they are buying.
With this acquisition, Yahoo! will established a larger social networking presence and AMI Planet will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yahoo!.
