A reader says the employees have received the paperwork, and the deal is done.
Having snapped up whatever there was to buy in the brick and mortar world, the private equity investors are now turning their attention to technology sector. Cadance has been linked with big private equity money. Add comparison-shopping engine Nextag to the list.
Some private equity investors, one of them rumored to be Providence Equity Partners, are looking to buy 66% of Nextag for between $1 and $1.2 billion. Of course these are all rumors for now, and while contacted Nextag, we are yet to hear back from their press relations department.
Nextag is said to be doing about $200 million in revenues, with a lucrative mortgage and other lead generation business being the rocket that is driving the company. Internet giants for example – have taken out its peers – MySimon, PriceGrabber, Shopping.com and Shopzilla. Comparison Engines has a great overview of the market so far and news about this deal.
If Mortgage drives the business, how can it be compared to pure-play product comparison shopping businesses? Totally different value proposition.
Hi Om and others,
Please excuse my ignorance, why would someone want to take a company private?
Thanks!
Om, it’s already happened. Employees have already received paperwork.
Anand, the reason you take a company private is if you are willing to trade growth for increased profit. Ever since the huge successes of Apple and Microsoft, public markets have become all about growth. This is how some tech stocks can be worth billions without ever generating a profit — it’s all about potential for future growth (stock value is theoretically net present value of all future earnings). If all you want to do is make money right now, you take the company private and no longer have to worry about meeting investor expectations (no more filing your financial statements with the SEC).
Nextag is a wanna be C player…that has been driven by a founders leather belt on the backs of his employees and border-line legal activity for years…once the founder is gone, it dies fast. this is gonna be an ugly private equity story!!!!
Nextag is a shady company. There known to remove negative reviews written by customers about companies. They dont advocate customers and side on companies they partner with. This information about NEXTAG has been coming out like crazy lately.
Nextag has a large number of products listed. Each product list, typically, has multiple vendors selling. When compared to http://www.pricegrabber.com, the quality of information, especially, product features is inferior. They do allow you to set price alerts.
tks