Now I know this might be a strange question to ask since the goal of many companies is to get bought out and therefore it must be fun if that happens right? Well this year I am pointed to two examples where getting acquired seems to have a very short High period followed by a lot of Lows.
Now in the first case, Aaron Swartz, one of the few super geniuses on the web, was destined to leave Conde Nast because he is an independent spirit. Things were great when Reddit was bought and I’m glad to see that he wasn’t forced to stay there for a year. A good purchase by Conde and smart move by Aaron. In this case getting acquired could be kind of fun if you already know what your second exit strategy is going to be.
In the second case you have MyBlogLog which was purchased by Yahoo this year in one of the most mind-boggling acquisitions I could ever think of. Anyways, MBL was starting to take off so getting acquired by Yahoo when they were still very small was a great thing because now they would have the resources they needed to do what they want right? Well it doesn’t really look like it.
If you have any experience with MBL you know it has been one disaster after another and all of it seems to surround spam. This past weekend was no exception and if you read the above link you will understand why. However, one part caught my eye in that entry and it made me do a double-take because I never pictured the acquired life to be like this.
First, in the States it was a three day weekend, so everyone was basking in the thought of staying offline for a few days and coming back recharged. Todd and John were back in Orlando at a wedding and Steve, who just moved out here, is busy looking for a place to live. And I’m splitting my free time between unpacking and giving my wife time off from watching our 16-month-old. No one was looking online.
Now I’m all for companies being acquired and the holding company being hands off, but isn’t that a bit too hands off? Nobody was online scoping out what is happening with the site? I don’t really understand the purpose of getting acquired if you get more spam, still have to completely run things and you can’t walk away without someone in the mega-company looking over things.
But then again in my world you get to ride on the backs of butterflies and the clouds are made of cotton candy.
Originally posted on February 20, 2007 @ 2:54 pm