Austin-based social media service company, Pluck, should be announcing a partnership with the Sun-Times News Group later today:
Posts Tagged ‘dave panos’
Demand Media Acquires Pluck Corporation
March 4, 2008I was just sent this press release and a quick Google search puts the price paid at $67 million. Demand Media is the group who is helping Lance Armstrong and his foundation with the creation/build-out of LiveStrong.com.
SANTA MONICA, CA, March 4, 2008 — Demand Media, Inc., the next-generation social media company, announced today that it has acquired Pluck Corporation, a leading provider of social media tools and technologies, serving more than 200 media websites, reaching over 100 million users, and serving over 1.5 billion interactions per month. The acquisition expands Demand Media’s social media platform beyond its owned network of web sites to power leading media properties and brands worldwide including Gannett/USA TODAY, Guardian Unlimited, Hearst Corporation, Fox, The Washington Post, Scotts and Circuit City.
“We founded the company with a vision for expanding social media beyond the traditional social networking portals. To that end, we have acquired and developed the components necessary to create, distribute and monetize web sites and content,” said Richard Rosenblatt, co-founder, CEO and chairman of Demand Media. “Now, we are ready to expand the platform and model beyond our proprietary network. Pluck provides the technologies, people and partners to accomplish this vision.”
Demand Media’s social media platform currently supports more than 64 million unique visitors per month.* The platform features multiple social media applications such as social Q&A and a vast wholly-owned and rights-cleared content library of Pro Amateur text and video. All this will be enhanced by Pluck’s widget and API-based social media technologies.
“This combination will allow us to provide our customers with an even broader suite of social media products and monetizable content,” said Dave Panos, CEO of Pluck and executive vice president for Demand Media. “The combined expertise of our two companies in platform technology development, content creation and community management is truly un-matched.”
Since its inception in May 2006, Demand Media has raised over $350 million in equity capital and pioneered a new formula for building an interactive media company. Through its social media platform, Demand Media has grown its vertical network into one of the Internet’s largest.
Pluck was founded in 2003 and built a world-class social media platform that enables leading publishers, brands, and retailers to grow their audiences by seamlessly integrating content, community and social media technologies directly into their existing web properties.
About Demand Media, Inc. Demand Media™ is a leading social media company that provides an interactive, personalized and vertically-focused media experience for over 64 million unique users. By using its proprietary social media tools and the unique distribution platform of the world’s second largest domain registrar, the company connects content creators and audiences to grow its network of vertical media web properties. The privately held company was founded in May 2006 and is based in Santa Monica, CA, with offices in Bellevue, WA, Austin, TX and San Francisco, CA.
Selling 3.0: A (R)Evolution in Sales
February 21, 2008Last night I attended the February meeting of TEXCHANGE – Austin. Texchange events are basically networking, dining, a presenation, and round-table discussion groups for technology entrepreneurs.
Last night’s panel was comprised of:
Dave Panos, CEO – Pluck
Justin Halloran, VP Sales – HomeAway Vacation Homes
Michael Osborne, VP Sales – Bazaarvoice
Randy Meriwether, President – Meriwether Consulting Group
A comprehensive summary of the presentations and discussion has been posted by Thom Singer
and can be found here: Selling 3.0: New Business Models Driving a (R)Evolution in Sales
Adomatica 