Zimbra Sells To Yahoo For 10x Return On Investment
面白い記事がありました。10倍になったという話も興味深いのですが、いろいろと買収オファーを断った話、そして お金だけではなく、マネジメントの意向も大切にしている点が勉強になります。私の過去 同様の経験をしたことがありますが、条件だけではなく、マネジネントの意向も非常に重要です。 無理に買収されても結局 良いことはありません。
VentureWire
9/18/2007
By Daniel Hausmann and Kevin J. Delaney
Zimbra Inc., a maker of software used for Web-based email, agreed to sell to Yahoo Inc. for $350 million in a deal that will give the two largest backers of the start-up a roughly 10 times return on investment.Benchmark Capital and Redpoint Ventures, which helped seed the San Mateo, Calif.-based company in 2003, each own slightly more than 25% of the company after investing close to $9 million, according to Redpoint Managing Director Tim Haley and Benchmark General Partner Kevin Harvey. The two firms would receive roughly $90 million with this deal. Redpoint incubated the company for four months before its 2003 launch.
The deal consists mostly of cash and a little bit of stock, according to a Zimbra spokesman.
Harvey said Zimbra had passed on offerings from various undisclosed suitors in the past few years. "I think Yahoo came in and made the management team an offer they couldn't refuse," Harvey said.
Haley said the sale price was just as important as the management team's comfort with Yahoo. Chief executive Satish Dharmaraj will continue to head up Zimbra after the deal is completed.
Benchmark and Redpoint are the company's oldest investors, but Accel Partners joined the syndicate in a $15 million second round in 2005 and Duff Ackerman & Goodrich, Inventures Group and Presidio STX（すばらしい！） invested in a $14.5 million third round last year. All told, the company raised about $35 million.
