Target Rumored to Tie-er, Buy - TheKnot.com
Target Rumored to Tie - er, Buy - TheKnot.com
August 29th 2005
Global online ad revenue is expected to rise nearly 40 percent this year, soaring from $9.6 billion in 2004 to $13 billion, according to Ken Marlin, managing partner of Marlin & Associates, an investment bank and adviser to media companies, BusinessWeek reports. With even small and midsize internet companies posting net profits, a trend has emerged: big buyers from both the on- and offline worlds are seeking to snatch up the affordable ones. Take, for example, TheKnot.com, a wedding-planning site whose leading potential buyer is Target, according to a company insider. TheKnot.com, with a market cap of $230 million, comprises a relative bargain for Target, worth nearly $50 billion.
And other such bargains abound.
"There has been a real bifurcation of value among Internet companies. The big ones are out of reach, and some of the smaller ones look cheap. That tends to drive activity," said D. Jonathan Merriman, CEO of investment bank Merriman Curhan Ford.
With the growth of online ad revenue at more than five times the pace of growth in most traditional categories, we're likely to see more acquisitions, rather than less.