This is a strange story. Rumors circulated today that Silicon Valley based startup Ribbit was acquired by British Telecom, and VentureBeat ran with the story. The company later denied the rumors, but wouldn’t comment on whether or not merger discussions were occurring or not.
The strange part is this - while Ribbit executives are denying the acquisition to the press, they’ve simultaneously been (quite happily) telling all their friends that BT has acquired them for $55 million, says a source who’s heard the story.
BT plans to use the Ribbit platform to build out a GrandCentral competitor, they’ve said. GrandCentral, a service that manages all of your phone services, was acquired by Google in July 2007 for $50 million. Since the acquisition, however, GrandCentral has gone nowhere - no new features and intermittent down time are the only GrandCentral milestones over the last year.
From past experience, this suggests a deal is in the process of closing but isn’t legally done yet, which gives executives the ability to deny acquisition rumors. But like most leaks, the company getting bought just can’t not tell their friends (loosely defined) all about it. Confidentially, of course.
Ribbit has raised $13 million in capital.
Nice home run, Mike.
If this is in fact true; then this is great news. The big differentiation is amphibian and the way it shows social connections.
The platform is where a great deal of the value lies as well. Nicely executed!
Cheers Ribbit!
Rodney Rumford
it is interesting to see the way telcos are seeing opportunity in platform business. AOL launched their open platform and integrating with Tringme (another platform company) and now it’s BT grabbig Ribbit.
Way to go Ribbit!
truth is such a burden for a business …
Listen to the buzz of the Ribbit story live and what people are saying: The story is hopping!
http://summize.com/search?q=ribbit
Rodney Rumford
OK I was totally blown away by this, British Telecoms are a bit of a joke in the UK. Maybe I should take them a little more seriously, Ribbit looks nice.
Looks like Ribbit is pushing the “Google is our competition” blather. I’m still keeping one eye closed on this one.
as another story had it. A company with “donut” in revenues. This is a homerun for Ribbit.
这个文章对我帮助很大，thank you!
You’re right Michael. Google did not acquire Grandcentral, Google killed Grandcentral.
The company regularly gets rids of evidence from concerned users telling them that they’ve got to get their shit together and start being innovative again - They regularly delete comments on their blog and web-sites like getsatisfaction.com criticizing their service.
Grandcentral is going get washed down as a meek addition in Android- if at all.
This is not the first time that Google killed the innovative edge of a company- They’ve done it before with a lot of the startups they acquired and founders have left Google because of that very reason.
Difference is- with Grandcentral, Craig Walker & co. decided to stay in Google and be part of the Cog that’s leading them nowhere (as it seems) , allowing their shares to vest.
GrandCentral isn’t dead. Google has plans to integrate the technology. It won’t be called GrandCentral. It’s somewhere between a Postini and Dodgeball acquisition.
$50 million is a get out quick move for the likes of GrandCentral and others.
The users just aren’t there for services like these. The technology can serve the likes of Google…etc. much easier than marketing the hell out of an enterprise and/or consumer offering.
I just got off the phone to BT in the UK. They say: “We do not comment on rumour or speculation.” The usual response…
@Avner - You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Nuff said.
@Avner agreed, remember Dodgeball ?
Hehe… sounds like somebody couldn’t handle being under NDA. It is DAMN hard not to tell people when something like this happens, totally killed me not being able to blog about it too
Maybe this will light a fire under Grandcentral.
To do something. Anything. But show us some action!
I’d rather have Google work according to their own timetable than your own. It’ll be done when its done.
@dualsub2006
well, maybe I don’t. Perhaps you could be kind enough to shed some light? No? I’m just voicing a frustated user’s opinion, to which I’m entitled to. I’ve been patient, too.
If you don’t like that- then, well..I don’t know; Do whatever you do when you go around writing really informative replies to what a user of a certain service should be ‘talking about’.
@ Joss- yeah, thats exactly what I was talking about.
@ Joss, @ Avner
Too soon to call “Dodgeball” on GrandCentral
Maybe as the service and product as you know it, but the IP and technology assets those will definitely be integrated into the Google user experience.
“Voicemail” is a protected label in Gmail FYI. I have also seen wire frames and screen shots at Google, pointing in the opposite direction of your argument.
Be patient and shame on Google for neglecting and wreaking havoc on the GrandCentral service and users.
Grand central should work, but it s a lot of money
Nath
http://www.themostpowerfulcompany.com
This is an interesting story, but in reality misses the bigger picture. The bigger story here is Google buying Jajah. If my sources are right Google has tabled an offer for Jajah which has several more zeros on the end than this deal and will be wrapped up shortly.
As an investment banker I don’t usually put much stock in simple rumors, but this has come from several sources and also makes much more sense to me. Google has Grand Central, but this is more a SMB play, has acquired a wireless spectrum, and of course Android in the wings. At the same time Jajah claims more than 10million customers, a strong VoiP backend (which Google is missing), an apparently healthy cash flow and a sting of industry partnerships adding tens of millions more people onto its network. Plus Jahah has built an phone advertising solution, which Google would no doubt love to get its hands on.
Good point Alex. Ribbit is small-fry compared to Jajah. Google has the money and Jajah is a perfect fit. One more thing you missed though – the Sequoia connection.
I also heard about the Google/jajah deal. My pal predicted this union three months ago and is looking very smug right now…
BT has over 10k Voice 2.0 developers in its Web21C program. Ribbit has only 4k.
http://www.ilocus.com/2008/07/.....ibbit.html
Ribbit was promoted at the Emerging Communications (eComm) conference last March for a reason (www.eCommMedia.com)
may be interesting to note BT already offers a GrandCentral type service, through RingCentral… http://www.ringcentral.bt.com/