Mountain View, California-based Meebo Inc. officially declared on its blog that Google Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is acquiring the social media start up. Meebo helps online publishers connect their websites with social network sites, allowing publishers and advertisers to promote products in interactive ways.
There have long been speculations about the deal. Last month, the technology website All Things Digital, reported that Google was in talks to acquire Meebo for about $100 million. Meebo was founded in 2005 by Seth Sternberg (CEO), Sandy Jen (CTO), and Elaine Wherry (Advisor), who met at Stanford. The company claims to reach half the US population.
In the past seven years, Meebo has tried many different products and customer groups. First it was a Web-based instant message client, then it launched the Meebo Bar for publishers to add a persistent social sharing and advertising overlay on their sites. Currently, Meebo’s homepage is pushing a tool for users to “create an interest profile to get new and timely information about the things that matter to you.”
Meebo said in its statement, “For more than seven years we’ve been helping publishers find deeper relationships with their users and to make their sites more social and engaging. Together with Google, we’re super jazzed to roll up our sleeves and get cracking on even bigger and better ways to help users and website owners alike.We’ve had a blast building Meebo so far and we’re really excited to start the next leg of our journey.”
Since its inception, Meebo has raised over $60 million, including $25 million from Khosla Ventures in 2010. The other backers are Sequoia Capital and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
“We are always looking for better ways to help users share content and connect with others across the web, just as they do in real life,” a Google representative said. “We look forward to closing the transaction and working with the Meebo team to create more ways for users to engage online.”
