180Solutions was reportedly in negotiations to purchase Hotbar back in March. The deal, which was said to be primarily the assumption of Hotbar’s debt, was perhaps an opportunity to give 180Solutions a hedge against its changing business model, with rapidly declining install rates as a result of no longer distributing through IST and the company’s decision to drop third party affiliate networks (by late Q1, 180’s daily revenue had reportedly dropped to approximately $75k a day, whereas a year ago that number was closer to $200k per day).
180 was also reportedly interested in purchasing the assets of Claria’s adware business, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a deal occurred there, as in my opinion, 180 is still the most logical buyer for that business.
However, cash has been a problem for 180solutions: Despite having raised a $40 million from Spectrum Equity Investors two years ago, a fair amount of that money went to the company’s founders, Daniel Todd and (reportedly) Keith Smith. With the company’s precipitous decline in install rates, cash has been at a premium (recently, however, one source with the company was said to have claimed that install rates are up and things are doing well). What with Segways, stunning offices, plasma screens and a bevy of beautiful people and big salaries, one is not surprised.
Today, we learned from an anonymous source that this deal is imminent and could happen in the next several weeks. Possibility? Who knows. At this point, this is rumour and conjecture, but it is all rather interesting.
Alex Eckelberry