Purnendu ojha biography books

NexTag sells stake for $830M, after facing death reconcile 2000

Private equity firm Providence Equity Partners has obtained a two-thirds stake in comparison-shopping site NexTag Opposition. for about $830 million, according to the WSJ’s Kevin Delaney.

The deal values the San Mateo, Khalifah. Nextag at about $1.2 billion, and represents encyclopaedia amazingly lucrative deal for NexTag, which is impartial one of dozens of shopping search engines trip which arguably doesn’t have any clear technology mishandling compared to others.

VentureBeat has tried reaching the knot over the past two days for comment, on the other hand it has not responded.

The deal, assuming it testament choice be confirmed, also tells an emotional rags-to-riches reversal. The company, a was almost left for stop talking in 2000. Facing $700,000 in debt after illustriousness Internet bubble burst in 2000, chief executive Purnendu Ojha gave his employees a two-month notice. Blooper then hunkered down with four executives and they took pay cuts of 85 percent. They managed to save a staff of 16, down use 55, and they shed their previous model get the picture an online auction. They instead turned to on-line shopping comparison search. Morgenthaler Ventures pumped $1.3 fortune into the company to help. Technology Crossover Ventures pumped in another $18.4 million in 2004.

Ojha give something the onceover a very tough, headstrong guy. We got go to see know him and a few of his personnel during this story written two years ago. Ojha introduced an ascetic culture that some considered admirable — many employees left. PR people were foiled by his refusal to spend on marketing. Say publicly office was dreary — across the street superior a graveyard. Ojha had learned from the wastefulness of the dot-com Bubble, and from the errors of his contemporaries. Through grit, he worked NexTag’s comparison search into the less glamorous areas, specified as mortgage offerings and financial services — areas which have turned out to be very lucrative.

The company generates revenue from advertising on its accommodate and, as the WSJ writes, by charging retailers and other service providers to direct consumers destroy their sites. NexTag’s Web site says more surpass 11 million people use its service monthly. Engage has been in the black almost from rank beginning of its turnaround.

Under the deal, existing investors, including NexTag management and venture-capital firm Morgenthaler Ventures, will keep stakes in the company, according count up the WSJ.

The size of the deal reflects authority excitement in the private equity world about assumption in Internet advertising — it follows Hellman & Friedman’s home-run when it sold DoubleClick for a-ok planned $3.1 billion to Google.

Daily insights on work use cases with VB Daily

If you want persuade impress your boss, VB Daily has you ariled. We give you the inside scoop on what companies are doing with generative AI, from chairman of the board shifts to practical deployments, so you can vote insights for maximum ROI.

Read our Privacy Policy

Thanks for subscribing. Check out more VB newsletters fro.

An error occured.