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James Bagnall in The Ottawa Citizen:
Microsoft Corp. is shelling out millions to acquire Ottawa-built technology for the third time in the past eight months. Only this time, the Redmond, Washington-based software giant doesn’t seem keen on providing details.So, for those curious, here’s the gist of the latest deal.
Shareholders of WebHancer have approved the sale of their company’s core technology to Microsoft for an estimated $8 million to $10 million (all figures in U.S. currency), assuming a variety of conditions are met.
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WebHancer’s niche is software that measures the performance of websites and offers some insight into the experience of people who enter them.The price paid for WebHancer’s assets is a far cry from the $25 million that venture capitalists — most notably Skypoint Capital, Vimac and Jefferson Partners — have sunk into the startup since its founding in 1999. But, when measured against WebHancer’s annual revenues of less than $5 million, the purchase price seems reasonable.
There are more details in the full article including the conjecture that WebHancer will continue as a semi-autonomous entity performing works-for-hire for Microsoft.
