The deal adds to DoubleClick's existing email marketing resources. The company now will be able to help Web marketers reach consumers by tapping into NetCreations' database of 15 million email addresses, on top of its own 7 million addresses. DoubleClick handles online advertisements for companies and sells anonymous information about users' surfing habits to help advertisers better target their messages.
NetCreations manages direct-marketing email lists for Web sites. Through NetCreations, companies offer their online visitors a way to receive discounts, information about deals or other content such as news headlines. NetCreations has more than 350 third-party partners, including CNET, publisher of News.com.
The acquisition is another indicator of consolidation among online marketing companies, according to executives from both DoubleClick and NetCreations. The companies had been talking about a tie-in for quite some time, and the recent market downturn sped up the process for signing a deal, the executives said.
"I think partly because of what's been happening in the market, we believe that it makes sense to align ourselves with a stronger partner," Rosalind Resnick, chief executive of NetCreations, said during a conference call yesterday morning.
Many Internet companies, including DoubleClick, are former Wall Street highfliers whose valuations have plunged since the spring, with stock prices hovering at 52-week lows. Also, investors are increasingly worried about the viability of online advertising.
Under the terms of the agreement, DoubleClick will offer 0.41 shares of its stock for each share of NetCreations stock. Based on yesterday's closing price, DoubleClick would be paying US$12.15 per share for NetCreations, or a 17 percent premium, the company said.
DoubleClick was trading down US$2.25, or 7.60 percent, to US$27.38 by late morning yesterday, after a slight early increase. NetCreations was down 50 cents, or 4.40 percent, to US$10.88, after an early jump.
The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
Play video
There are currently no comments for this post.