Comments on: Yahoo Buys Maven Networks, Joining Google, Microsoft in Kendall Square

By: New York Times: Dinosaur or New Media Machine?

New York Times: Dinosaur or New Media Machine? — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:51:07 +0000

[...] Global Media & Communications (GE), Hearst Interactive Media, and IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI) to fund Brightcove, a developer of IP video technology. Brightcove technology hosts and serves content published by [...]

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:14:36 +0000

Wade, I read the post before I understood the nature of the site. I came to it from Google Blog Search.
I like your site, ultra local in a hot zone!

I’ll return often.

BTW, Roo now has an office in Dubai :-)

By: Wade Roush

Wade Roush — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:09:37 +0000

@Mike: Roo doesn’t enter into the story because my focus was on companies based in the greater Boston area, and Roo is based in New York, London, and Australia. Glad you like the site!

@Zach: Like you, I am a little surprised that the Maven acquisition went through in the midst of the total uncertainty over Yahoo’s future. But given that the deal has been under discussion since Thanksgiving, I definitely don’t think Yahoo is doing this to wheedle a sweetened offer out of Microsoft.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:09:13 +0000

Hi Zach,

Maven will thrive under either Yahoo! or Microhoo ownership. I was reading AdWeek earlier today how Yahoo! ran tests last quarter on various ad delivery schemes over video. They found under certain conditions click-throughs were 8 percent compared to traditional values near 1 to 4%.
Advertising over video is gold if you believe those statistics.
I mentioned Roo because though they have problems they are being attended to (so it seems). Since they are a public company my interest is piqued.
Thanks for the response.

Mike

By: Zach

Zach — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:51:45 +0000

@Mike
I’m guessing Roo was left off that list for a few reasons. I mean, even if Roo was a local company, it would still have some considerable problems to deal with.

And, while I’m glad to see Maven get this publicity, as it is truly one of my favorite local companies, I think there are obvious questions about the future of Yahoo! in the face of MS/AOL/Google, which make Maven’s future equally ambiguous.

What happens to this acquisition if Yahoo! is taken over? Google certainly doesn’t need this technology and could potentially strip it out just to take the high profile client list. On the other hand, MS could use the technology more though, potentially making this a more favorable deal at $36/share.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:03:07 +0000

You failed to mention publicly traded Roo.
(RGRP.ob)
They may not have a Cambridge office but they have quite a few well heeled web partnerships.