REVENEWS BLOG -- Oct 11 -- ValueClick aquired BeFree in March 2002 for $128 million in an all stock deal, however, BeFree had about $110 million in the bank, and so ValueClick bought BeFree for next to nothing. Then, in 2003, ValueClick bought CJ for $58 million in cash and stock. ValueClick has combined these two affiliate networks into one network powerhouse. So, in aggregate, ValueClick paid around $60 million for their affiliate marketing business. CJ has a number of two stand out business risks. First, eBay has outgrown its partnership with CJ, and it is clearly time for eBay to become less dependant on CJ and recently move set up their own affiliate infrastructure. Second, industry watchers have privately wondered if the ValueClick leadership understands affiliate marketing. Also, employees are leaving in droves which demonstrates a problem.
Back in May, ValueClick and Aqauantive had merger talks that fizzed out, but this demonstrates that the Aquantive model is very attractive to ValueClick. Aquantive is AvenueA/Razorfish (Agency), Atlas (ad serving technology), and DrivePM (ad network).
ValueClick's affiliate marketing revenue last year was $78 million and for 2006, I would expect revenue to be about $100 million given their growth trajectory this year so far. If ValueClick sells CJ, this would give Zarely and Vadnais the cash to buy agency and create another Aqauantive type player.
The full article was originally published at Revenews Blog, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: And Google is working on a CPA network... That would but a kink in CJ and Linkshare's market share. Google would undercut and outdo them, most surely.
