BuzzMetrics today is expected to announce that it has been acquired by Israeli-based Trendum, a developer of linguistic analysis and Internet search technologies. The merged company, which will have
more than 50 employees, will be valued at between $20 and $25 million.
VNU, which was a minority shareholder in Trendum before the deal was inked, will remain a minority shareholder and
strategic backer of the new company.
The company will do business under the BuzzMetrics name, which is already recognized in the field of buzz-monitoring--the company boasts 70 Fortune 1000
companies among its client list. Trendum will integrate its language-mining and search tools into BuzzMetrics' monitoring system. Previously, BuzzMetrics used its own proprietary technology for
text-mining--a key component of buzz measurement.
Max Kalehoff, who will join BuzzMetrics as the vice president of marketing in early October, said there will be no layoffs, and that both
company's management teams will stay on board. Jonathan Carson, who was formerly president of BuzzMetrics, will be the CEO of the new firm, and Itzhak Fisher, the chairman of Trendum, will be the
chairman of the new firm. Braxton Robinson, the current chief technology officer of BuzzMetrics, will take the same role at the new firm, and Ori Levy, the president of Trendum, will be the president
of BuzzMetrics Israel.
The companies do not share many clients, Kalehoff said, and BuzzMetrics will be providing the vast majority of the new company's client list. "There's a little bit of
overlap, but not that much," said Kalehoff. "BuzzMetrics really had the marketplace footprint."