Zango mum on acquisition buzz |
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Zango mum on acquisition buzz
Something big is up at Zango Inc., the controversial Bellevue-based online media company formerly known as 180solutions. There's no official word yet, but all signs point to a possible acquisition by Blinkx, a video search company with offices in San Francisco and London. We've been getting anonymous tips via email, and there are some telltale clues online.
"Big news today from Zango, the company I co-founded 10 years ago," wrote Ken Smith, the brother of Zango CEO Keith Smith, in a Twitter post earlier today. "More information will be forthcoming."
"Time to get drunk for the last time as a Zango employee...a little part of me is going to die," tweeted Zango's Tommy Lee a few hours later.
The company was repeatedly in the media spotlight and under fire from privacy advocates as a notorious provider of adware. In 2006, Zango paid $3 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company "used unfair and deceptive methods to download adware and obstruct consumers from removing it, in violation of federal law," as the FTC news release put it at the time.
Earlier this afternoon, Zango's Wikipedia entry was modified to include the sentence, "On April 17th, 2009, Zango was bought by Blinkx, a video search engine company located in California." The entry cited no source for the information.
The sentence has since been edited out by a Wikipedia user who characterized the statement as misinformation. One Zango shareholder we spoke with this afternoon hadn't been informed of any acquisition news.
Reached this evening and asked about the apparent deal, Blinkx spokeswoman Julia Blystone said her mobile-phone battery was running out and said she would call back. She hadn't responded as of 7:30 p.m. Phone calls and emails to Zango representatives including CEO Keith Smith haven't yet been returned. We'll continue to track the story and provide updates as more information is available.
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