The company acquires BlueHornet Networks
MINNEAPOLIS, November 18, 2004--
Digital River, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRIV), a global leader in e-commerce outsourcing , today announced that it has expanded its e-commerce solution through the acquisition of BlueHornet Networks, Inc., a leading permission-based, e-mail marketing solution. Through this technology acquisition, Digital River plans to offer online merchants an expanded range of advanced tools for survey and e-mail creation, database and campaign management, loyalty building, revenue tracking and statistical analysis. Delivered as an integrated part of Digital River's e-commerce platform, the BlueHornet solution will be used to help online merchants acquire new customers, build customer loyalty and increase their e-commerce site revenues.
“By integrating a new e-mail marketing system with our e-commerce platform and expertise, we intend to offer our clients an even stronger data-driven approach to growing their online businesses,” said Joel Ronning, Digital River's CEO. “On the front-end, the e-mail marketing system is a valuable tool that clients can use to identify and target high-value customers while generating qualified traffic and sales for their online stores. On the back-end, it will have the capability to be integrated into our Fireclick Web analytics engine so that companies can use the combined metrics to continuously optimize their sites and e-commerce strategies.”
Digital River acquired all of the outstanding capital stock of BlueHornet through a merger transaction in which former BlueHornet shareholders received stock of Digital River with additional compensation available to them based upon the terms of an earn-out. As a result of the merger, BlueHornet became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital River. Digital River expects the acquisition to be accretive to earnings in the near term. The BlueHornet business will continue to operate out of its current location in San Diego, California.
“The growing importance of e-mail marketing to our clients was a call-to-action for us,” said Ronning. “After an extensive review of market leaders, we decided to acquire BlueHornet Networks based on not only its technology and experience, but also its great fit with Digital River's culture and future strategies. By integrating an e-mail marketing solution with our Fireclick Web analytics engine and e-commerce system, we can now offer online merchants even deeper insight into online consumer behavior, buyer intent and compelling e-marketing campaigns. Our on-going goal is to help our clients drive and optimize customer acquisition, retention and lifetime value. We believe our unique combination of technologies and e-commerce expertise will help us accomplish just that.”
In addition to being integrated into Digital River's e-commerce platform and its Fireclick Web analytics engine, BlueHornet's solution will continue to be sold and supported on a stand-alone basis. While the integrated solution will be designed to offer clients maximum e-marketing, analytics and data warehousing capabilities, Digital River also plans to maintain the open architecture of its e-commerce platform, BlueHornet and Fireclick. Because these systems can operate independently, they will continue to accommodate on-going integrations with other solution providers.
“We believe the combined strengths of these companies offer significant value, and increased flexibility and growth opportunities for our joint client bases,” said Tim Marusich, BlueHornet's CEO. “Moving forward, we will continue to offer BlueHornet clients the same technology, services and superior support that they have come to expect from us. In addition, as a new division of Digital River, we will be able to offer them an even wider range of e-commerce and Web analytics services with all the conveniences of working with a single source.”
BlueHornet has conducted thousands of e-mail campaigns for well-known clients, including leading companies such as Sprint, MBNA, Brinker International, 3M, World Wildlife Fund, GUESS?, House of Blues Entertainment, Inc., Kyocera Wireless and Red Lobster. In addition, BlueHornet supports over 100 resellers, many using private label versions of its e-mail marketing solution.
About Digital River, Inc.
Digital River, Inc., a global leader in e-commerce outsourcing, builds and manages online businesses for more than 40,000 software publishers, manufacturers, distributors and online retailers. Its multi-channel e-commerce solution, which supports both direct and indirect sales, is designed to help companies of all sizes maximize online revenues as well as reduce the costs and risks of running an e-commerce operation. The company's comprehensive platform offers site development and hosting, order management, fraud prevention, site merchandising, advanced reporting and analytics, product fulfillment, e-marketing and multi-lingual customer service.
Founded in 1994, Digital River is headquartered in Minneapolis with offices in major U.S. and European cities. For more details about Digital River, visit the corporate Web site at www.digitalriver.com or call 952-253-1234.
Forward-Looking Statements
In addition to the historical information contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements, such as statements regarding the Company's, and the combined companies', anticipated future performance, including the ability of the combined companies to offer an expanded range of tools for survey and e-mail creation, database and campaign management, revenue tracking, and statistical analysis to the clients of the combined companies and to the larger marketplace, including comprehensive suites of e-commerce, e-marketing and analytics services, as well as statements containing the words, “believes,” “anticipates,” “expects,” and similar words. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, or industry results, to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: the Company's limited operating history and variability of operating results; competition in the electronic commerce market; the ability of the combined companies to successfully offer the market comprehensive suites of e-commerce, e-marketing and analytics services and market acceptance of such offerings, and other risk factors referenced in the Company's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Digital River is a registered trademark of Digital River, Inc. Fireclick is a registered trademark of Fireclick, Inc. BlueHornet is a trademark of BlueHornet Networks, Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks, registrations or copyrights of their respective owners.
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