Facebook Buys Mobile Discovery Service Glancee
Facebook has scooped up another startup in its path toward mobile dominance. This time, it’s Glancee, an ambient location-based service that competes with Highlight.
From Glancee’s home page:
“We started Glancee in 2010 with the goal of bringing together the best of your physical and digital worlds. We wanted to make it easy to discover the hidden connections around you, and to meet interesting people. Since then Glancee has connected thousands of people, empowering serendipity and pioneering social discovery.
“We are therefore very excited to announce that Facebook has acquired Glancee and that we have joined the team in Menlo Park to build great products for over 900 million Facebook users. We’ve had such a blast connecting people through Glancee, and we truly thank our users for being a part of the Glancee community.”
Less than a month ago, Facebook acquired the mobile-based photo-sharing app Instagram for $1 billion, and the world’s largest social network has expressed its sights are set on mobile.
Glancee fits the bill. It was one of the hot passive location startups at SXSW this year, along with Highlight and Sonar.
Facebook’s just weeks away from an initial public offering. The company announced its shares would be priced at $28 to $35, putting the company at a valuation of $85 billion and $95 billion. Facebook did not disclose the terms of the Glancee acquisition.
How do you think Glancee’s service might change Facebook on mobile? Push notifications when you’re near friends? Would you like Facebook to be able to do that? Tell us in the comments.
What Is an IPO?
What exactly is an IPO? What are the risks to a company in going public? What are the legal requirements?
If you find the business terms and market lingo confusing, check out our explainer video, which breaks down an IPO in plain language.
Facebook launches with humble beginnings that most people have seen dramatized in The Social Network by now. It was a small social site backed by only a little money, and limited just to the undergrads at Harvard. Right out of the gate, Facebook turned down offers from an unknown investor and Friendster, each offering $10 million. This was, of course, when the company was still called TheFacebook.
Image courtesy of Flickr.
2005: Serious Interest
By 2005, “TheFacebook” was becoming more and more interesting to potential investors. They waved off bids from the likes of NBC, The Washington Post Group, and two separate attempts from both MySpace and Viacom/MTV.
Image courtesy of wwwes; Flickr.
2006: Microsoft & Yahoo Come Calling
Facebook became more legitimized as it moved into more colleges, and then expanded to the public. Microsoft signed a large advertising deal with Facebook, an event that began a long, positive relationship between the two companies.
Just a month later, Yahoo made a $1 billion offer to buy Facebook, but it was rebuffed after Yahoo’s stock dropped and the company had to lower to $800 million.
Image courtesy Ludovic Toinel; Flickr.
2007: Forging an Alliance
After a lucrative advertising relationship, Microsoft invests heavily in Facebook, putting in $240 million for 1.6% stake in the company. This raised Facebook’s estimated worth to $15 billion, after only three years of existence. Despite this, Zuckerberg said the possibility of an IPO is “years out.”
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, michalPuchala
2008: Valued at $4 Billion
In an interview with 60 Minutes in January, Mark Zuckerberg said there was no chance of a Facebook IPO that year. In August, Facebook gave itself a valuation of $4 billion, then began letting fully vested employees sell 20% of their stock based on that valuation.
Image courtesy of 60 Minutes.
2009: More Investment
Facebook gets $200 million investment from Russian Digital Sky, who bought 1.96% of the company with that. That investment raised Facebook’s valuation to $10 billion.
Two other estimates of wealth came out later in 2009 that lowered Facebook’s valuation, probably as more terms of the deal with Digital Sky became clear.
Image courtesy dborman; Flickr.
March 2010: Zuckerberg Talks IPO Rumors
Zuckerberg is still coy about an IPO, saying there is “no rush,” and proving that Facebook doesn’t need the money.
Image courtesy of JD Lasica; Flickr.
November 2010: Valuation Climbs
Trading on secondary markets suggests Facebook is the third most valuable web company in the United States. As private investors sold their stakes, valuations of the company soared as high as $56 billion.
Image courtesy Dan Farber; Flickr.
January 2011: First IPO Moves
Goldman Sachs and Digital Sky Technologies drop a massive $500 million cash infusion into Facebook, pushing its value upwards of $50 billion. According to USA Today, that valuation exceeds companies like eBay and Nike.
Facebook also launches an $1.5 billion equity offering through Goldman Sachs, letting some private investors buy a piece of Facebook.
Image courtesy of AMagill; Flickr.
June 2011: The $100 Billion IPO?
Reports circulate that Facebook’s IPO could exceed $100 billion, and that it might go public during the first quarter of 2012.
Image courtesy of Andrew Feinberg; Flickr.
January 2012: IPO Imminent
Facebook halted trading of its shares in secondary markets for three days starting Jan. 25, a possible indicator the company’s long-awaited IPO is coming soon.
Image courtesy J. Fudyama-Powers; Flickr.
Thumbnail image courtesy iStock Photo, youngvet
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