Demand Media, a big buyer and operator of Internet domain name companies, completed negotiations to acquire Austin-based Pluck last night after about two months of negotiations. The price is not being disclosed but is rumored to be in the $50 million range. Update: We’ve confirmed the number from an inside source – $75 million, all cash. Pluck revenues are around $10 million/year.
Pluck raised $17 million in three rounds of funding.
Pluck never really lived up to expectations and the price paid is certainly less than investors had hoped for when writing their checks. The team certainly is scrappy, though, and quick to adapt. They had a promising RSS reader in the early days but eventually discontinued that product. They also released a Delicious-like social bookmarking site called Shadows that was also discontinued. Their most recent strategy is a suite of products that brings social networking features and blog content into big publishing sites. USAToday is a high profile customer.
Los Angeles based Demand Media was founded by former MySpace CEO Richard Rosenblatt. The company has been buying content sites and is said to be preparing for a 2009 IPO, economy permitting. Their last round, $100 million, was announced in September 2007. They’ve raised a total of $320 million to date.