Blinkx makes offer to bail out ad company Miva
The British video search site Blinkx has offered to acquire Miva, a digital-ad company that sprang out of Web 1.0 search ad firm FindWhat, for a price of $1.20 per share in cash. That's a 54 percent premium over Miva's August 7 closing price of 78 cents.
"A combination of the two companies--fusing Miva's advertising network with Blinkx's ability to leverage its technology portfolio into the online market--presents an exciting and compelling opportunity," a release from Blinkx read. Miva has not yet responded to the offer.
Several months ago, reports surfaced that both Google and News Corp. were interested in acquiring Blinkx, making the publicly traded dot-com's stock spike.
Miva, meanwhile, has been going through some very rough waters. Longtime president and chief marketing officer Seb Bishop resigned on Tuesday. In its offer letter to Miva, Blinkx named "several challenges" that could make the ad firm agree to such a sale: "risk and cost associated with (its) new technology platform, a deteriorating cash position, continued deterioration of (its) Media EU business and continued decline in revenue and profitability."
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline.
