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Umang Gupta's Keynote buys Vividence in $26-million deal
By siliconindia
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Tuesday, 14 September 2004, 19:30 IST
CALIF: Keynote Systems Inc. agreed to purchase Vividence Corp., a privately-held online customer research company, for $20 million in cash. Keynote will pay an added $6 million if certain performance goals are reached by Sept. 30, 2005.
Included in the purchase price are debt payments on behalf of Vividence and funds held in escrow for the purchase of Vividence's outstanding shares.
Keynote said it expects the purchase to add $11 million to $14 million to 2005 revenue, as well as increase operating income, excluding acquisition-related charges. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call predict the company will generate revenue of $47.1 million in fiscal 2005. Keynote will release fiscal 2004 results later this month. The company recorded revenue of $38.3 million in fiscal 2003.
Keynote will gain 130 active customers in the deal, as well as access to more than 250 other clients. Vividence customers have ranged from Citibank, Clear Channel Entertainment, eBay, FedEx and Microsoft to Timberland, USA Today, Williams Sonoma and Yahoo!
The transaction is expected to close within the next 30 days, and Keynote said it will hire 50 Vividence workers, bringing the total number of Keynote employees to about 240.
The acquisition is Keynote's eleventh in just over four years, and its third in the customer service management sector, having already acquired Enviz in October 2002 and NetRaker in April 2004.