• by Ray Schultz , January 28, 2019

iContact, a 15 year-old email marketing company serving small and medium-sized businesses, has been acquired by j2Global in a $49 million purchase from Cision.

The $49 million in cash consideration could grow based on performance over the next 12 months.  

Roughly 30 jobs have been eliminated at the North Carolina-based iContact, according to WRAL.

Cision, a technology provider serving the public relations and marketing communications fields, announced last week that it had divested its email business, but did not release further details.  

At the same time, Cision announced that it had acquired TrendKite, a provider of a SaaS-based cloud and analytics platform, for $225 million. The price includes $94 million in cash and roughly 10.2 million shares of Cision stock -- the latter being subject to approval by the New York Stock Exchange. 

In reviewing its long-term business strategy, Cision determined that it should focus on its communications cloud platform, the company said. 

The TrendKite acquisition gives Cision clients “additional ways to demonstrate and measure the business impact of their earned media communications," states Cision CEO Kevin Akeroyd.

Erik Huddleston, TrendKite’s CEO, will serve as president of Cision. 

Vocus had acquired iContact for $169 million in 2012, prior to its 2014 merger with Cision.

iContact had raised $50 million in venture capital, WRAL reports.