Is Classmates.com a casualty of the Facebook revolution? In what seems to be a death knell to the first pure-play social networking IPO in U.S., United Online has canceled the proposed IPO of its Classmates.com social networking unit. The company originally announced its plan to hive off the company in August, and in late November it said it expected to raise $177.7 million via the sale. But, citing the standard “market conditions,” the company now says that such a move wouldn’t be in the interest of stockholders. In other words, the interest wasn’t there. While there had been some excitement over a social networking pure-play IPO, Classmates.com, with its subscription-driven business model and earth-bound growth rates, couldn’t fully capture the buzz. United Online said it will take a $4.5-$5.5 million charge in Q4 associated with the aborted process.
Can ListentoyourWife.com Make a Marriage.calm?
From oppostite sides of the country — and the gender pool — two Websites have launched that offer a decidely different outlook and outpost for the Social Web’s matrimonially-challenged.
Northwest-born ListenToYourWife.com was created to reaffirm the feelings married women experience and want to voice, but often can’t vocalize with their spouses. Issaquah couple Howard Ro and Jamie Jang created the venue that features member dialogue, expert advice and commentary and subject-themed discussion groups plus a personal page.
In the opposite corner of the American linoleum, North Palm Beach, Fla., to be precise, another forum has been launched for couples who can’t find the kind of understanding or compassion of ListenToYourWife.com. The name of the alternate site is divorce360.com and it has been built for anyone contemplating, going through or recovering from divorce or the issues surrounding it.
Is it possible that a click on the Northwest “listening” site could prevent a visit to its alter ego? So far divorce360 has more venture money riding on it.
[24×7]HealthTalk Now Spoken for by Revolution HealthAOL founder Steve Case has another business relationship with the Seattle Internet community. Along with servng as board member and investor into Seattle-bred FlexCar. Case’s Revolution Health has now acquired Seattle’s HealthTalk for an undisclosed sum.
The HealthTalk community serves around 500,000 members with news and discussion on a range of medical issues.
According to the Seattle P-I, Several HealthTalk executives previously worked at OnHealth Network, which closed its Seattle operations after being acquired by WebMD in 2000.
Speaking of board members, Revolution Health, which serves about 200 million page views per month over a network of five sites, has some powerful board members opf its own including former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. [24×7]
Survey Says: Seattle Ranks No. 3 in U.S. for Online Holiday Shopping
According to a recent poll of the top 20 U.S. markets by Zogby Interactive, Seattle has ranked third nationwide for overall online holiday shopping this year.
78 percent of respondents in Seattle said they plan to shop online this year matching sunny Orlando, Fla., for the No. 3 spot. Philadelphia topped the list with 79.3 percent of those polled saying they will shop online this season while chilly Boston had 78.6 percent of respondents saying they will shop for the holidays online.
Seattle ranked No. 12 on the list of U.S. markets where people say they plan to reduce their overall holiday shopping budgets this year. About 34 percent of Seattle’s respondents say they will spend less, while 48.2 percent of Orlando’s poll respondents say they will cut spending, placing that city atop the U.S. list. [24×7]
