YellowBrix, Inc. has received court approval for the purchase of the content services company iSyndicate, including iSyndicate Europe. The bankruptcy court overseeing iSyndicate has approved the YellowBrix acquisition, originally announced in mid-June, and the closing of the transaction is scheduled for Friday. The deal was structured as an undisclosed combination of cash and securities
In parallel with the acquisition, Bertelsmann Content Network sold its stake in iSyndicate Europe, which will become a wholly owned subsidiary of YellowBrix. In addition, Bertelsmann Content Network will become a minority investor in YellowBrix.
“With a wholly owned subsidiary, YellowBrix will be positioned to develop the European market, seamlessly transitioning into this new arena,” said Stephan Sieprath, executive vice president of Bertelsmann Content Network.
Existing Yellowbrix investors led by Soros-backed Quantum Industrial Partners have agreed to finance the cash portion of the acquisition as well as capitalize the combined company’s long-term business plan.
iSyndicate’s services should complement the Alexandria, Va.-based YellowBrix’s product set, making the combined company one of the dominant providers of information solutions and contextual content services with more than 400 customers, over 300,000 affiliates and more than 100 strategic alliances and technology partnerships.
The San Francisco-based iSyndicate’s Intelligent Syndication Network allows enterprise customers to collect, distribute and manage digital information among a set of internal or external audiences. It’s application component allows customers to repurpose, distribute and integrate Web applications, like e-mail, without IT time. When integrated with YellowBrix ArchiText products, customers can create and distribute, across all platforms, contextually related packages of information relevant to a user’s interests.
Customers can also choose between hosting the content on their site or on a YellowBrix server.
The acquisition of iSyndicate is projected to nearly double YellowBrix’s client base and expand its reach into Europe. The deal also expands product offerings with the addition of branded content syndication services and complementary software solutions.
Joel Maske, the former chief executive officer of iSyndicate, will serve as the chief business officer of the new entity, overseeing sales, marketing and business development for the combined companies.
Customers who have integrated YellowBrix into their offerings include KPMG Consulting, America Online, and Brown and Williamson. iSyndicate currently serves Citibank, and Sun Microsystems, among others. Plans are in place to maintain the YellowBrix and iSyndicate product lines and to begin to offer integrated services in the near future.
YellowBrix’ content infrastructure services include categorized content creation and delivery, contextual content profiling and news aggregation, with additional features such as contextual commerce and advanced personalization. YellowBrix services use this technology to classify information for delivery to customers’ users through their Web pages, e-mail and wireless devices.
