Friday, November 04, 2005
VeriSign Acquires News Aggregator
Internet services company VeriSign said yesterday it has acquired news aggregator Moreover Technologies for US$30 million in cash to bolster its position as an organizer and gatekeeper of information flowing on the Internet. Moreover Technologies, a closely held San Francisco-based company, gathers and filters online news and blogs, then automatically parcels the information in a headline-like format, also known as RSS feeds, to corporate customers such as Microsoft's MyMSN. The deal comes just 10 days after Mountain View, Calif.-based VeriSign said it acquired Weblogs.com from Scripting News for $2.3 million in cash. Weblogs.com provides subscribers automatic notification of new material on Web sites and online journals known as blogs. For VeriSign, a company that handles Web domain registrations and provides authentication technology for online transactions, both investments are smart moves in a growing field of real-time distribution of Web content, said Allen Weiner, an industry analyst with Gartner . "VeriSign has been the hallmark of bringing organization to the Web, and this extends their play into this new arena," Weiner said. "This will help keep track of what's new and fresh out there."
Mark McLaughlin, a VeriSign senior vice president, said the company has been watching the recent explosion of so-called real-time information, distributed in the format called really simple syndication, or RSS, and saw a lack of technological infrastructure there. "We want to provide not just infrastructure, but intelligence to the information to make it relevant," McLaughlin said. Shares of VeriSign rose 39 cents to close at $21.08 yesterday on the Nasdaq Stock Market, near their 52-week low of $19.01.
Brought to you by Guardian eCommerce.
Mark McLaughlin, a VeriSign senior vice president, said the company has been watching the recent explosion of so-called real-time information, distributed in the format called really simple syndication, or RSS, and saw a lack of technological infrastructure there. "We want to provide not just infrastructure, but intelligence to the information to make it relevant," McLaughlin said. Shares of VeriSign rose 39 cents to close at $21.08 yesterday on the Nasdaq Stock Market, near their 52-week low of $19.01.
Brought to you by Guardian eCommerce.
