Via TechCrunch:
Web chat startup Meebo has been working with investment bank Montgomery & Co. for the last few months to either find a buyer or raise a big new round of financing. The rumor was they were looking for a $250 million valuation.
A couple of sources have told us that eBay, Fox/MySpace and AOL all took a long look at the company, but ultimately passed based on the price and the fact that the company has done aggregate revenues since launching of only $1 million or so.
So instead of selling, Meebo is closing a financing round valuing the company at $175 - $200 million. The company wants strategic investors as well as the inevitable private equity funds that would be willing to pay this kind of valuation (traditional VCs won’t touch a deal like this). The rumor is that Fox and/or AOL may be investing in the round.
A lot of buzz and a massive user-base today seems to be more important then revenues and profits however, can a company keep their investors happy with eyeballs and no real revenues? Would you invest in them? or would you not? As an investor in a number of web ventures I find it extremely speculative to invest in such companies.
Great post Sahar.
I do agree with your response in one part only.
All the Big Online Company’s of today started from NOTHING with ONLY vision and determination.
That’s good to know. About two years ago I sold a name to a kid (I think he was a younger domainer)….he offered $150 or so and a trade of two other names….Meabo.com and Weabo.com….didn’t mean much to me, but the $150 was about right for the name….I had picked it up at Snap Names for $60…a decent name…that’s it.
Meabo has always recieved over 1,000 uniques per month….I never did any investigation…thought it was from links…who knew? Makes about $10 per month, as well.
I just changed the page and keyword….it will make more now.
About $4,500 would likely take it….contact through whois.
What was the revenue when YouTube and MySpace were bought? I don’t think they had any revenue and things are still going well there.
Sahar, maybe you need to take a vacation? Your posts have been very inspirational in the past but lately they are focusing on the negative.
Negative stuff is always easy to find