Yes, that’s correct. Yahoo! has acquired IndexTools and now has become a major player in the analytics space. Google Analytics and even Omniture now appear to have another direct competitor in Yahoo/IndexTools – it should be interesting to see how Yahoo will market IndexTools in the near future. Eric Peterson, has a great follow up to this story on his blog, speaking about how this acquisition will change the analytics game:
While we have seen a lot of deals in the last two years, this one is potentially the permanent game changer….Many people consider IndexTools to be every bit as good as far more expensive solutions, offering strong support for visitor segmentation, customization, marketing work flow management, advanced merchandising, and reporting that is far superior to that currently offered by other free and low-cost solutions
I spoke to IndexTools’ COO, Dennis Mortensen (who will now be Director of Data Insights at Yahoo) about the deal with Yahoo and he was obviously very excited about this opportunity:
Personally, I feel proud, but then again, I think anybody who had the privilege to be part of a successful start-up would feel that way. I am also super excited about the next steps that we will take with Yahoo. It’s going to be great fun!
I will change to a Director of Data Insights at Yahoo – and to repeat my almost serious description on my blog http://visualrevenue.com/blog: My new function will very much be around driving and evangelizing the Analytics strategy for Y!, so envision a more commercial version of Avinash or a less British version of Ian or the nemesis of Omniture if you will
The official Press Release:
SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO – News), a leading global Internet company, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Tensa Kft., more commonly known as IndexTools, a leading provider of Web analytics software for online marketing. The acquisition includes IndexTools’ Web analytics business and technology as well as its Tensa R&D Kft. subsidiary. Upon completion of the acquisition, the addition of the IndexTools’ assets is intended to expand Yahoo!’s powerful set of services designed to maximize its clients’ online marketing efforts.
“Yahoo! believes that the ability to generate the most valuable and relevant insights is essential to seizing market opportunities and creating successful campaigns,“ said Bassel Ojjeh, senior vice president and head of Yahoo!’s Strategic Data Solutions group. “We expect that the IndexTools’ technology platform will provide our customers the opportunity to more quickly uncover and act on these insights, enhancing Yahoo!’s status as a partner of choice in online marketing and the must buy for the world’s advertisers.”
The acquired technology is expected to extend Yahoo!’s current analytics offerings by adding capabilities to deliver relevant insights and metrics for online campaigns that run across the entire Yahoo! network. Following the acquisition, the first group of customers to benefit from these enhanced tools will be more than 150,000 small-to-medium businesses marketing on the Web with Yahoo!. Additional capabilities enabling third-party developers to monitor and optimize the traffic performance of their applications are expected to follow throughout the year following the acquisition.
IndexTools offers a scalable analytics platform for companies’ online marketing activity in each phase of the customer lifecycle. With IndexTools Web Analytics and Bid Management, businesses gain accurate, insightful and timely intelligence about the effectiveness of their online marketing.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2008. Comments
