del.icio.us Business Model Finally Revealed
del.icio.us
may be a cool Web 2.0 service but it didn't have a business model that
would generate enough money to create a viable business. It turns out
the “business model” was getting acquired, and it worked out pretty
well after Yahoo! has snapped up yet another start-up. The news was
unveiled on del.icio.us' blog. No financial terms were revealed- it all depends on how much Yahoo values users (Om Malik's $38/eyeball formula?) and a well-known brand name. Yahoo's other start-up acquisitions this year include Flickr
and Blo.gs. For aspiring Web 2.0 entrepreneurs, VCs and business
journalists, the big question is how much Yahoo paid for del.icio.us.
Om Malik
boldly ventures to make a speculative guess on what's the deal is
worth. No one has spilled the beans yet but Union Square Ventures,
which led a
financing earlier this year, seems happy.
Other investors, who took a minority stake last April include
Amazon.com, Marc Andreessen, BV Capital, Esther Dyson, Seth Goldstein,
Josh Koppelman, Howard Morgan, Tim O'Reilly and Bob Young. Fred Wilson
explains Union Square's investment decision here. Amazon, by the way, is also an investor in 43Folders.
