Sources: Microsoft Signs Letter Of Intent To Acquire Xobni
Michael Arrington
64 comments »
Two independent sources tell us that the Microsoft/Xobni deal is moving along and that Microsoft signed an acquisition LOI in the last week. I have not yet been able to track down the price, but a previous offer of sub-$20 million was supposedly rejected by Xobni.
Bill Gates has publicly complimented the service, calling it “the next generation of social networking.”
Xobni, which launched at the TechCrunch40 conference last year, offers an outlook plugin for Windows users that significantly improves the desktop email experience (particularly search). They recently hired notable Yahoo’er Jeff Bonforte as CEO.
The timing on this is perfect as the New York Times and others are doing their seasonal focus on the problems with email. Xobni is one of the top startups trying to fix the problem.
Update: yet another source says the LOI hasn’t been signed by Xobni yet
Update 2: Xobni won’t return my emails, but they’ve told a source the following, passed on to us: “we’re staying an independent company and will be exiting beta soon.”
I hate this microsoft company man, all they can do is acquire other people to stay the course, no merit, no genuine innovation, nothing, that’s so superficial.
This acquisition (or at least the speed of it occurring) seems odd to me. Plaxo for years has seemed like such a perfect fit for a Microsoft acquisition, particularly because it grew from an Outlook tie-in and is such an easy way to maintain your contacts.
Even moreso, the Plaxo of today seems even more inline with the Microsoft strategy since they have truly enabled contact continuity across a number of different clients, all using web-based synchronization.
Xobni has value but is so new to the game. Guess more questioning “why not Plaxo” rather than questioning Xobni.
xobni=inbox
thats brilliant, and its a good story. When somebody says whats your companies name? you just say, its “inbox” backwards.
Won’t get anyone to switch from thunderbird to outlook.
I don’t think that this is exactly “the next generation of social networking”.
Obviously will be integrated into Office 14… The question is to what extent. Maybe even beyond Outlook…
Invites? Anyone?
I am waiting for the gmail plugin. I have been using the Xoopit plugin and so far it adds value to my gmail. It is almost like instant gratification, although the first time I had to wait 24 hours so i can index all my files. Congratulations Xobnis…..
They haven’t solved the problem yet. More than 20 million for an Outlook plugin? And Outlook still completely sucks and I’m happy I can avoid it forever in a few months.
If Microsoft allowed more innovation internally they wouldn’t have to go outside of the company to buy it.
alex k: Whew thank god tons of companies like Google don’t do that!
Bill Gates almost correct. Xobni is almost the next generation of social networking.
Since it’s only running on outlook, therefore xobni it isn’t so social. Is not arguable.
The next generation of social networking lies on how the contact management and the privacy settings perform. Of course it shouldn’t be lock-in.
Damn’t, MSFT! I didn’t even get my invite to Xobni yet, and here you go spoiling my hopes for the product by (no doubt) making it part of yours.
Certainly the next generation social networking product.
Looks like an organic acquisition. Though, more than 4 million for an email plug-in is quite a lot of funding
Well, so much for the Gmail version of Xobni…
MS decided the price is too high. The deal has not been signed. Xobni would cost over $30M and that’s $20M too high.
DaveS, how did you arrive at $10M, or are you just pulling numbers out of your ass to be a troll?
For those of you who don’t use Outlook or don’t care much for Microsoft (assuming an acquisition is imminent).
Check out:
http://www.emailcenterpro.com/
I’ve been using Xobni for Outlook for a while and it’s a great product (Fast Search!).
I hope it won’t go away after MSFT buys them.
If I recall correctly Lookout was a “buy’em to break’em” acquisition.
Good for Xobni, bad for every other e-mail application except for Xobni. Until now, we could hope that they would release their plug-in for other applications. Microsoft, understandibly, won’t do that.
@Sebastian:
I disagree that this is bad news for other email apps. Quite the contrary, Microsoft is notable for their disregard for users. Why is Gmail now crushing hotmail? It’s because they have a clean UI, simple features & Google values their user base. Microsoft ruins the very essence of consumer trust.
I’ve been hearing good things about Xobni. However, if MS gets their hands on it then it will surely be absorbed by MSN and misused.
I use Xobni it transformed my outlook box into something I don’t mind opening.
Web 2.0 Wack-a-mole… The second something becomes interesting, the entrepreneurs sell out. Booo!
@Matt: I have a Xobni invite i can send you, let me know if you want it.
Is it the next gen social net tool ? Not really. But for those who _have_ to use Outlook (yes, some people _have_ to use it), it is the best thing since sliced bread — especially if you are have poor organizational skillz.
@sean: If Matt doesn’t pull through for the invite, do you mind sending me one at icecube@live.com? Thanks a lot!
Mike, thanks a lot for the link. Calling the deal early wasn’t exactly nuclear science on my part:-) I mean Bill Gates does not demo startups’ software every day, so when he did, it could only mean one of two things:
- a strong message to his troops to go back and copy it in no time
- he already knew he would acquire Xobni.
Xobni is the one app I regret I can’t try as I long ago broke free from Outlook-prison, using Gmail now. No turning back … even though I’d love to try Xobni.
my inbox is a social network. my driveway is a social network. my underwear drawer is a social network. outlook users are the very trailing edge of business users…i somehow doubt the inbox as mini-feed is going to translate well with them, but then again for $20 million, why not.
Obviously Xobni was designed to be acquired, in particular, by Microsoft. Xobni just fit MS needs (not your needs). Though Xobni has a subset of what Plaxo provide, however, Plaxo may be too expensive to MS, also, Plaxo has border loves to other mail clients which MS does not like. Plaxo’s strength has become a weakness against being acquired by MS. What a pitty.
Good job and good luck, Xobni.
I like Xobni (now that I’m back on Outlook and a PC), but it doesn’t seem to like my Window Pane and crashes it once a week.
Thanks, Sean!
You can send it to: mgriswold[at]gmail[dot]com
@#21
How do you know gmail is crushing hotmail? Goog doesn’t seem to want to publish any real numbers to demonstrate how many real, active users they’ve got. MSFT, on the other hand, has published numbers north of 400M.
with so many so called geniuses working in Mugro$oft and they need a tiny startup to “fix” Outlook for them.
@Ely Fall
You might like to use GTDInbox for Gmail to manage your inbox (I also use Xoopit and RememberTheMilk, and they fit together nicely).
Congratz guys!
That’s the Ycombinator power !
Nobody has mentioned it, but this matters a lot for LinkedIn. More on my blog:
http://smoothspan.wordpress.co.....orry-guys/
Best,
BW
“the next generation of social networking.”
I look forward to them branding it something catchy like, “Social Networking Live for Vista”.
@ Icecube.
This is Skyler from Xobni. I just set your email address up for an invite so go ahead and register on our home page.
Matt (or any generous souls),
If there is still an invite lurking out there, I’d love one.
jklein|at|gaycenter|dot|org
Thanks!