Follow Wize.com on Vator.tvWe are proud to announce that NexTag has acquired Wize! Official press release copied below. Thank you to everyone that has helped us along our journey. We're excited to join forces with the great team @ NexTag. You can also read an awesome "Executive Brief" post over at Vator.tv: http://vator.tv/news/2010-07-
NexTag Acquires Product Recommendation Site, Wize
Acquisition Enables NexTag to Provide Review
Content to Consumers and Increase Marketing Opportunities for Merchants
SAN MATEO, Calif., July 8, 2010 – NexTag, (NexTag.com), a leading comparison
shopping website for products and services, today announced the acquisition of Wize (Wize.com),
an online product recommendation research engine. This agreement will enable NexTag to deliver greater
levels of convenience and quality to the consumer online shopping experience.
Wize
will continue to maintain its offices, employees and management team in
Burlingame, CA. Wize President and CEO,
Tom Patterson, will report directly to Scott Simmons, President of NexTag. Financial terms of the acquisition are
undisclosed.
“The
Wize acquisition is an important step towards fulfilling NexTag’s strategic
mission to be an indispensible shopping resource for consumers at every stage
of their shopping experience,” said Jeffrey G. Katz, Chief Executive Officer of
NexTag. “The synergy between NexTag’s proprietary price comparison technologies and Wize’s
sophisticated review content will allow us to expand the range of shopping services
we offer consumers, while simultaneously offering an unmatched portfolio of
marketing opportunities for our merchant partners. The Wize transaction is one of a series of strategic
moves we will make over the next year, encompassing acquisitions, global
expansion and aggressive recruitment of top talent, all of which will enable us
to seize competitive advantage as this category evolves.”
Since
launching in late 2006, Wize has aggregated more than six million product reviews
on over one million products from thousands of sources across the Web. The
patent-pending Wize Product Research Engine analyzes this massive amount of data using real
everyday language based on what people have said is important, and provides
users with an easy to use, personalized list of product recommendations. The site is designed to help consumers find
the products that meet their specific needs and budgets.
“Since
our inception, the goal of Wize has been to set the standard in innovative customer
recommendation services, so NexTag’s customer-focused approach to online
shopping is a natural fit,” said Tom Patterson, President and CEO of Wize. “NexTag’s
global reach will allow us to increase the scale our efforts to develop breakthrough
intellectual properties, which will keep us at the cutting edge of delivering
great product recommendations and delighting customers.”
Trusted
online product reviews and recommendations are a major influencer of consumer
purchases across a wide range of products.
According
to Nielsen, recommendations from personal acquaintances
or opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of
advertising. The
acquisition of Wize will expand NexTag’s ability to help consumers discern
between good and bad opinions on the Web, allowing them to have confidence in
the products they are purchasing.
The
acquisition of Wize is one of a series of strategic initiatives being driven by
Katz and the NexTag management team to expand and diversify the
company’s offerings in the competitive online shopping segment. Katz joined NexTag as Chief Executive Officer
in March from his post as Chairman, President and CEO of LeapFrog Enterprises,
Inc. There he led the successful
expansion of the company's online education product line and significant growth
in the company's installed base. Prior
to his tenure at LeapFrog, Katz held a series of high-profile positions within the
travel industry as Chairman and Founding CEO of Orbitz, Inc., President and CEO
of Swissair, and as President of the SABRE division of American Airlines.
About NexTag
NexTag is the leading comparison shopping site for products,
education, travel, and more. At the core of NexTag are proprietary technologies
and algorithms that enable shoppers to quickly compare prices and find great
deals on millions of products and services. More than 30 million people per
month use NexTag to research, compare, and save on products and services
online. NexTag has been named one of the "50 Best Websites 2008" by
TIME magazine. The company operates comparison shopping sites in the US (nextag.com),
the UK (nextag.co.uk), France (nextag.fr), Germany (nextag.de),
Spain (nextag.es), Italy (nextag.it), Australia (nextag.com.au) and Japan (nextag.co.jp).
NexTag is headquartered in San Mateo, California with offices in London, Tokyo
and Gurgaon, India.
About Wize
Wize
(Wize.com) simplifies product research by helping consumers find products based
on their needs instead of technical product features. Users simply tell Wize
what product they are looking for and how they want to use it. The
patent-pending Wize Product Research Engine then reads data from thousands of
sources across the Web, analyzes more than six million reviews for more than
one million products, and provides a personalized list of the top products for users’
needs. Wize, headquartered in Burlingame, Calif., is privately held and was funded
by Mayfield Fund and Bessemer Venture Partners. For more information, visit wize.com.
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Contact:
Margaret Mathis
On Target Communications
415-713-3543
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