LookSmart Acquires NetNanny

Search engine LookSmart announced yesterday that it had acquired the rights to NetNanny for approximately $5 million in cash and stocks. NetNanny is an online filter used for filtering out websites that have questionable or adult content.

“This acquisition is both strategic and prudent for LookSmart,” said Damian Smith, LookSmart’s CEO. “Strategic, because integrating our search technology into Net Nanny provides a stronger product for their users, while also providing LookSmart with a desktop platform from which to launch high margin search and paid listings applications. Prudent, because Net Nanny is expected to produce positive margin contribution for LookSmart in 2004.”

Included in the acquisition are all Net Nanny software products and Web-based assets, as well as the Net Nanny brand name. Net Nanny applications include:

Net Nanny 5.0, the world’s leading parental control software; Net Nanny’s Pop-Up Scrubber, which blocks pop-up ads; Net Nanny’s Ad-Free, which blocks a broad range of Internet ads, spyware and profiling cookies; and Net Nanny’s Chat Monitor, which monitors and filters instant messaging and other online chat.

LookSmart’s purchase of NetNanny hopes to strengthen its history of providing family friendly search results for its partners. Since LookSmart has filtered out adult listings from their search results, as well as the banning of adult advertising.

Murdok | Breaking eBusiness News
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