Internet Brands Inc to be acquired by Hellman & Friedman Stockholders for $640million

[zappaDPJ]

Honestly some people need to get into the real world. Fine if you don't understand the realities of the commercial world, but if not then be quiet and don't make fools of yourselves.

Here's some news from the 'real world'

Law office of Brodsky & Smith, LLC announced that it is investigating potential claims against the Board of Directors of Internet Brands, Inc. relating to the proposed acquisition by an affiliate of Hellman & Friedman Capital Partners VI, L.P. (Hellman). Under the terms of the agreement, Internet Brands shareholders would receive $13.35 for each share of Internet Brands stock they own. The investigation concerns possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of state law related to the Internet Brands board`s approval of the proposed acquisition. Specifically, Internet Brands shareholders need additional information to know what actions the board took to adequately shop the Company before entering into this transaction and whether Hellman is underpaying for Internet Brands, resulting in harm to the Internet Brands shareholders. The transaction appears to be unfair, in part, given that Internet Brands stock was trading at $11.22 a share as recently as May 17, 2010.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/finance/stock...20100920123000

[EDIT] Or here if the link above expires: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Law-Of...57020.html?x=0

[Mark.B]

Here's some news from the 'real world'


Source: http://www.reuters.com/finance/stock...20100920123000

That is interesting, thanks.

[the geek]

Why doom and gloom? IB has done very little positive for the vB brand over the last year so people should be celebrating like its 1999.

Yes Mark, businesses exist to make a profit. Is that bad? I guess that you work for free?

Any new business owner buys for strategic reasons (that was IB's rationale) or because they believe they can increase the profitability from the target company through increasing revenue and/or efficiency. To me, that means that it is just as plausible that the new owners see the potential in vB and will invest accordingly.

Could it get worse? Not by much. So logic dictates it is more likely to get better.


... that or as was suggested - it will be sold off (which is STILL better than how it has been).

[mlx]

Please, let us not hurry and jump into conclusions but let us first wait and see how things will go instead.

That's what I did for the last 3 years ... enough is enough ...

[Mark.B]

Why doom and gloom? IB has done very little positive for the vB brand over the last year so people should be celebrating like its 1999.

Yes Mark, businesses exist to make a profit. Is that bad? I guess that you work for free?

Any new business owner buys for strategic reasons (that was IB's rationale) or because they believe they can increase the profitability from the target company through increasing revenue and/or efficiency. To me, that means that it is just as plausible that the new owners see the potential in vB and will invest accordingly.

Could it get worse? Not by much. So logic dictates it is more likely to get better.


... that or as was suggested - it will be sold off (which is STILL better than how it has been).

I didn't say anywhere that businesses making a profit was bad. On the contrary. However both in here and in life generally there are many many people who seem to seriously believe that people start businesses to look after customers or improve the community or something, such people are naive and they are the sort who get conned again and and again and again because they believe every glib trite PR statement companies issue.

In the UK, financial expert Martin lewis runs www.moneysavingexpert.com (which also has a vB forum as it happens) and he actually produces a pack that teaches people the realities of business in this way. He initially made it for kids but it soon became clear how many naive adults there are.

So no, making a profit is good, but consumers need to be aware that that is the ONLY reason a business exists. Some of the comments in this and other threads today have made me cringe.

[vijayninel]

I think one of the main things that the new owners will want to look into is the sales of vbulletin licenses and profits that vB is making. I know that the vB4 presale was good but I dont know how the sales have been thereafter. If the sales of vBulletin licenses has not been going well for a few quarters, then the new owners may be concerned about that.

[Yves R.]

Hmmm...

"Scott A. Friedman has been Chief Financial Officer of Internet Brands, Inc. since August 29, 2008"

And the company buying them is called Hellman & Friedman.

Coincidence?

Yes, only coincidence as it was Tully Friedman who was co-founder of H&F, not Scott A. Friedman (maybe same family? )

Take a look @ Wikipedia's article about H&F.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellman_&_Friedman

[Lizard King]

Mark your negativity against vBulletin is possibly the strongest hate i've ever seen at a person. Sorry but you and your messages are irritating me.

[Hall of Famer]

umm the quality of VB is expect to rise significantly, but the price of VB may increase too. I'd expect about $300 - 400 for a VB suite license when VB5 is released.

[Mark.B]

Mark your negativity against vBulletin is possibly the strongest hate i've ever seen at a person. Sorry but you and your messages are irritating me.

It isn't hate. I don't hate anyone or anything. I just want what I paid for.

Plus, my comments about businesses are not specific to vBulletin or Internet Brands, they apply to all businesses.

[Mark.B]

umm the quality of VB is expect to rise significantly, but the price of VB may increase too. I'd expect about $300 - 400 for a VB suite license when VB5 is released.

And all this is based on...what, exactly?

[the geek]

Regardless... it spells "change" and unless you are happy with where vB has been since the Jelsoft sale, I would expect more optimism.

People treat the words "business" and "profit" as dirty or something to be ashamed of. Yet they treat their own income as earned. Personal income is profit from your business relationship with your employer or your clients. If you can earn more profit working at another firm, it should be championed, not thought of as dirty and it certainly shouldn't be publicly criticised.

Where it IS wrong is when people are swindled or taken advantage of in order to profiteer from their misfortune. Sure there are a lot of businesses that do this - but I would wager that there are more individuals that do this in life.

So. Back to my original point. Change is good if you are unhappy with what you currently have.

[c0bra]

Mark your negativity against vBulletin is possibly the strongest hate i've ever seen at a person. Sorry but you and your messages are irritating me.

Irritating maybe but he's not too far wide of the truth with his assessments of the situation. I've been caught up in a few of these deals myself, and never have things ended particularly well for customers or employees. This certainly was the case with the original IB acquisition of vBulletin. Is there anybody left working on vBulletin who was part of the dream team that delivered vBulletin 3.0.0? John the co-founder has left his baby behind. Kier, Mike and Scott have gone.

It will be interesting to see what happens with vBulletin moving forward. I am not convinced developing vBulletin and selling licenses of the software is where the bulk of their money will ever be made. A company tends to target the biggest chunk of its capital towards investing in areas where the business is proven to turn the biggest profits.

Another problem for us as customers is all those who had a passion for the vBulletin project have already left. I predict the best talent who joined since IB acquired the assets will also leave in time, for much the same reasons as the original guys left. So we'll be starting all over again, with new developers bringing their own ideas to the table, learning the code structures and working within the confines of the new owners - who will have their own ideas how to maximise the biggest possible return on the assets.

It's hard to find a reason to feel excited about the future for vBulletin right now.

[Lizard King]

Irritating maybe but he's not too far wide of the truth with his assessments of the situation. I've been caught up in a few of these deals myself, and never have things ended particularly well for customers or employees. This certainly was the case with the original IB acquisition of vBulletin. Is there anybody left working on vBulletin who was part of the dream team that delivered vBulletin 3.0.0? John the co-founder has left his baby behind. Kier, Mike and Scott have gone.

It will be interesting to see what happens with vBulletin moving forward. I am not convinced developing vBulletin and selling licenses of the software is where the bulk of their money will ever be made. A company tends to target the biggest chunk of its capital towards investing in areas where the business is proven to turn the biggest profits.

Another problem for us as customers is all those who had a passion for the vBulletin project have already left. I predict the best talent who joined since IB acquired the assets will also leave in time, for much the same reasons as the original guys left. So we'll be starting all over again, with new developers bringing their own ideas to the table, learning the code structures and working within the confines of the new owners - who will have their own ideas how to maximise the biggest possible return on the assets.

It's hard to find a reason to feel excited about the future for vBulletin right now.

So does Kier , Mike and Scott are the only developers that can develop a forum software ?

[punchbowl]

Hopefully Ray had already sold all his shares.