SUNNYVALE, Calif. & MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Yahoo!, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Polyvore, Inc. announced today that they have reached a definitive agreement for Yahoo to acquire Polyvore, a leading social shopping site. The acquisition will enhance Yahoo’s consumer and advertiser offerings — Polyvore will strengthen Yahoo’s digital magazines and verticals through the incorporation of community and commerce, and together Yahoo and Polyvore will power native shopping ads that drive traffic and sales to retailers. Broadly, Polyvore will accelerate Yahoo’s Mavens growth strategy (mobile, video, native, social) through its strong offerings in social, native, and mobile.
“Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”
On Polyvore, users put together sets of clothing, accessories, and lifestyle goods that express their love for style and shopping in a compelling, digital, social setting. In addition to natural integrations with Yahoo Style and Yahoo Beauty, Polyvore’s strong media experience, where community-powered content is curated and actionable for shoppers, will enhance the full portfolio of Yahoo’s digital magazines and verticals. When it comes to advertising, Polyvore’s technology will bring a proven native ad model, new compelling native ad formats, and strong advertising relationships with more than 350 retailers to Yahoo’s fast-growing native advertising platform, Yahoo Gemini.
“Polyvore has built an excellent team, a category leading product, and a strong business based on a highly engaged community,” said Simon Khalaf, Yahoo’s SVP of Publisher Products. “The combination of Yahoo’s industry-leading digital content with Polyvore’s expertise in community and commerce has outstanding potential. We are thrilled to have the Polyvore team join us.”
“I’m delighted to join Yahoo. Our core mission of empowering people to feel good about their style will remain the same, but with Yahoo’s help we’ll be able to make Polyvore even bigger and better for our user community,” said Jess Lee, Co-Founder and CEO, Polyvore. “I’m also excited that we’ll be able to deliver more scale to our advertisers by integrating our ad offerings into Yahoo Gemini.”
Following the closing of the acquisition, Polyvore products and services will continue to operate. With Yahoo’s support and investment, we expect Polyvore to continue to delight its community, while introducing Polyvore’s expertise on community, commerce, and rich native ads across the Yahoo network. The Polyvore team will join respective Yahoo offices in Sunnyvale, San Francisco and New York and Polyvore Co-Founder and CEO Jess Lee will report directly to Simon Khalaf.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.
About Polyvore
Polyvore is a shopping site where you can give and get styling ideas from the world’s largest style community. Polyvore provides brands and retailers a way to connect with influential consumers and drive sales through native advertising solutions. Polyvore is venture-backed and has offices in Mountain View, San Francisco and New York. For more info, visit www.polyvore.com.
About Yahoo
Yahoo is a guide focused on informing, connecting, and entertaining our users. By creating highly personalized experiences for our users, we keep people connected to what matters most to them, across devices and around the world. In turn, we create value for advertisers by connecting them with the audiences that build their businesses. Yahoo is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and has offices located throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific (APAC) and the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions. For more information, visit the pressroom (pressroom.yahoo.net) or the Company’s blog (yahoo.tumblr.com).
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning Yahoo’s proposed acquisition of Polyvore (including without limitation the statements contained in the quotations from management in this press release), as well as Yahoo’s strategic and operational plans. Actual events or results may differ materially from those described in this press release due to a number of risks and uncertainties. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the possibility that the transaction will not close or that the closing may be delayed; and that the anticipated benefits to Yahoo, including strengthened relationships with retailers, expanded product ads, and acceleration of its Mavens growth strategy, as well as the anticipated benefits to users and advertisers may not be realized. More information about potential factors that could affect Yahoo’s business and financial results is included under the captions, “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2015, which are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and available at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
Contacts
Media Relations Contact:
Yahoo
Rebecca Neufeld, 408-349-4040
[email protected]
or
Investor Relations Contact:
Yahoo
Joon Huh, 408-349-3382
[email protected]
