Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Maven Networks caps $160M sale to Yahoo

Online video hosting and distribution company Maven Networks Inc. has been snapped up by California Internet giant Yahoo Inc. for $160 million, a deal first reported Feb. 4 in Mass High Tech.

As a result of the acquisition, Cambridge-based Maven will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Yahoo (Nasdaq:YHOO), and officials expect to maintain the IP video hosting and distribution company's Cambridge office.

With the deal, Yahoo will invest in the growth of Maven's business, as well as expand the offering by integrating its display sales force and technologies into Maven's platform, according to company officials.

The deal expands Maven's audience in terms of both viewers and advertisers. Yahoo claims to have the largest library of professionally produced, legally licensed video content, as well as video advertising relationships with more than 75 percent of the top TV advertisers.

Maven founder and CEO Hilmi Ozguc worked from 1988 to 1994 in executive roles at Lotus Development, also the former employer of Microsoft Corp. chief architect Ray Ozzie. Ozzie left the firm in 1984, but worked closely with the company through an outside development firm, called Iris Associates thereafter. Lotus purchased Iris in 1994, before the firm itself was sold to IBM Corp. in 1995.

Maven was founded in 2002 by former Narrative Communications CEO Ozguc. The company has raised more than $30 million in private funding since its inception. Investors and board members include Woody Benson of Prism VentureWorks in Needham, Jim Breyer of Accel Partners in California, and John Simon of General Catalyst Partners in Cambridge.

Maven counts CBC, CBS, CNET, Financial Times, Fox News, USA Today, Sony BMG and TV Guide among its customers.