Internet advertising firm DoubleClick, New York, will purchase opt-in email marketing firm NetCreations Inc. in a stock transaction valued at $191 million.
The acquisition includes NetCreations’ PostMasterDirect.com, which contains 15 million double opt-in email addresses, will give DoubleClick list management control of 22 million email addresses. DoubleClick’s List Services division currently managed 7 million opt-in email addresses.
Rosalind Resnick, NetCreations’ chairman and CEO, will serve as vice president of corporate development, email at DoubleClick. She will also be a member of DoubleClick’s Privacy Advisory Board.
The merger will allow DoubleClick to offer both double opt-in names, as collected under NetCreations’ protocols, and single opt-in, per the policy established by DoubleClick. In a conference call DoubleClick executive vice president of corporate development Jeff Epstein said that Resnick’s duties will include talking to publishers around the country, touting the benefits of double opt-in practices.
Both sides touted the acquisition as an action that would improve NetCreations’ bottom line. In a conference call following the announcement Epstein stressed that, in DoubleClick’s view, NetCreations growth had been stunted by its inability to hire sales force representatives fast enough. Resnick noted that while 20% of her company’s members are located outside of the United States, NetCreations does not have an international sales force.
According to Epstein, NetCreations’ employee base of 60 would be augmented, especially in the sales force area. No cutbacks were announced, or even hinted at.
Resnick was cautiously optimistic about the future of email marketing. She acknowledged a decline in the cost per thousand of consumer lists since the beginning of the year, largely due to less dot-com money being pumped into rentals. But she also said that costs of business-to-business lists will continue to be strong as more brick-and-mortar stores come into the market for electronic lists.
The union comes as a disappointment to some privacy advocates. “NetCreations is a company we have held up as an example of the best practices for email marketing,” said Jason Catlett, president of privacy advocacy firm Junkbusters Corp.
“DoubleClick is a company we have condemned as one of the greatest threats to privacy. There is an important lesson here: No matter how you trust a company you give your information to, they could be sold tomorrow to a [company] from your worst nightmare.”
But Resnick’s advocacy of her company’s privacy standards is unflagging. I am as firmly committed to double opt in as the best practice for e-mail marketing. The good news is that [DoubleClick] takes privacy very seriously there.” DoubleClick, says Resnick, advocates the three principals — notice, choice and access — set by the Federal Trade Commission.
NetCreations has sent out email messages on behalf of more than 2,000 direct marketing clients to consumers in its database. All 15 million individuals in it have elected to receive email messages pertaining to specified topics of interest. NetCreations also manages opt-in email lists for more than 350 third-party Web sites, including CNET, About.com, Network Solutions, CBS SportsLine, and internet.com.
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