Whitepages to acquire Snapvine

By Gabrielle Kalika

June 5, 2008

Not a snap decision

Whitepages.com plans to acquire voice and mobility product provider Snapvine.

As a result of the acquisition, Snapvine’s voice applications, technology platforms and development team will be added to Whitepages.com. The acquisition should close in about five to 10 days with Snapvine shareholder approval.

“A key part of the strategy in acquiring Snapvine is to provide privacy-protected communications services that make it comfortable for users, especially mobile users, to contribute their contact information to our database,” said  Alex Algard, founder/CEO of Whitepages.com, Seattle.

“Based on our research, users do want to be found by family, friends [and] business associates,” he said. “However, they don’t want to get spam or telemarketing calls on their phone. With Snapvine we will build services that enable people to control how they are contacted, wherever they are.” 

Snapvine brings voice and mobility to social networks and Web sites. It was founded in mid-2005 and is headquartered in Seattle.

Whitepages.com has contact information for an estimated 180 million adults on its site. The company claims to have twice as many subscribers as its competitors in the people search space.

Whitepages.com will integrate Snapvine products into its suite of services. The company will also roll out other connection initiatives such as a free, private voicemail box as well as email and SMS messaging services.

Whitepages.com, network of sites include Whitepages.com, Whitepages.ca, 411.com, Address.com and its 1,300 partner sites including Superpages.com and YellowPages.com.

Mobile users can also access contact information via their handsets, smartphones and other Web-enabled mobile devices.

Whitepages.com already has a mobile site that is designed specifically for viewing on Web-enabled mobile devices.

From there users can perform all basic search functions as well as view maps and directions. The acquisition of Snapvine will bring more content and functionality to the Whitepages.com mobile product, which might eventually include click-to-call and SMS.

“This deal is positive for the mobile industry on several fronts,” Mr. Algard said. “First, it creates a stronger tie between the Web and mobile phones.

“Initially, we plan on developing products that allow users of Whitepages.com to connect with mobile users in a privacy-protected manner, like via SMS or live call,” he said. “Longer term, there are a variety of mobile initiatives that we will jointly work on that will make the Whitepages.com experience easier to use and accessible from any mobile device.”

Comments on "Whitepages to acquire Snapvine"

1. Tom OKeefe says:

   June 13, 2008 at 1:53am

   WhitePages.com is believed to be very profitable with $70 million yearly revenues and 12 million monthly visitors. Enter those numbers in the Bizak Calculator and you get an estimate of almost $280 million with an EPV of $0.49. Plenty of capital to purchase Snapvine and others.