2008 Public Internet M&A: Year In Review

2008 will not be remembered as the "Year of the Deal" in the Internet sector.  In fact, it is a year virtually all companies and investment bankers would prefer to forget.

There were a grand total of 9 public Internet companies acquired in 2008 and the largest of those deals, CBS's acquisition of CNET, was only $1.8 BN, hardly big enough to generate sufficient fees to keep Wallsteet's finest attired in bespoke suits.

The biggest news in the Internet M&A space was, of course, the deal that never happened: MIcrosoft's proposed offer to buy Yahoo!.   In the wake of this failed engagement there may be some big deals in 2009 as both Microsoft and Yahoo pursue other options, but for now 2008 will go down as one of the quietest, perhaps the quietest, years for M&A in the Internet sector ever.

           2008 Acquisitions of Public Internet Companies

Closed	Target		Acquirer		$ Size
1/17/08	Visual Sciences	VSCN	Omniture	OMTR	$394
2/4/08	Traffix	TRFX	New Motion	NWMO	$159
3/18/08	Audible	ADBL	Amazon.com	AMZN	$300
4/16/08	Varsity Group	VSTY	Follett Group		$4
6/30/08	CNET	CNET	CBS	CBS	$1,800
8/6/08	Hostopia	H.TO	Deluxe	DLX	$124
10/15/08	Greenfields Online	SRVY	Microsoft	MSFT	$486
10/30/08	Napster	NAPS	Best Buy	BBY	$121

For a complete list of public Internet M&A deals as well as some private deals see this list of Internet M&A deals.