United Online Acquires schoolFeed
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Acquisition of Leading Facebook App and Online High School Network to
Enhance Classmates and StayFriends Services
WOODLAND HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 11, 2012--
United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ: UNTD), a leading provider of consumer
products and services over the Internet through its operating
subsidiaries, announced today that it has acquired schoolFeed, Inc.,
owner of a Top 25 Facebook app1 and a leading online high
school network, to enrich its Classmates business domestically and its
StayFriends brand internationally. schoolFeed will now be owned by
Memory Lane, Inc., a subsidiary of United Online. schoolFeed boasts over
19 million members and has been growing by approximately 100,000 new
registrations per day on average over the past three months.
schoolFeed’s CEO and co-founder Lance Tokuda and team members joined
Memory Lane upon the closing.
schoolFeed is a free app that enables users to find and connect with
their high school friends and acquaintances, and offers an online
yearbook and class directory with news feed, interest groups, online
games and virtual currency. Currently, users join schoolFeed through its
Facebook app which can then populate their schoolFeed profile using
information and images from the new member’s Facebook profile.
schoolFeed was launched in 2011 by Tokuda who co-founded RockYou, one of
the earliest successful Facebook app developers. RockYou’s portfolio of
popular apps includes Superwall, Birthday Cards, Slideshows and Zoo
World.
“We expect the acquisition of schoolFeed by Memory Lane to solidify our
Classmates service as the premier high school social media platform in
the U.S.,” said Mark R. Goldston, Chairman, President and Chief
Executive Officer of United Online. “We anticipate that the addition of
schoolFeed’s installed base of 19 million registered members, together
with its daily registrations, will create an opportunity for Classmates
to have a leading position on Facebook. It should also provide an
opportunity for both schoolFeed members and Classmates.com members to
reconnect and interact with an even larger number of people from their
high schools. In addition, we add the proven talent of Lance Tokuda and
his team to enhance the Classmates.com user experience.”
“We are thrilled to have the schoolFeed team join us at Memory Lane,”
said Harold Zeitz, President of Memory Lane, Inc. “Our expectation is
that, through the schoolFeed app, Facebook users will have the
opportunity to find friends and acquaintances from high school, enjoy
old yearbooks and engage with other nostalgic content and Classmates
services.”
“We are excited to join the team at Memory Lane,” said Tokuda. “There is
a huge market for people looking to reconnect with people from their
past, especially their high school years, and the Classmates service
provides a great way for them to do it. At schoolFeed our goal was to
build the same kind of community, and we've been very successful while
going about it in a different way. We bring some innovative new
capabilities to the Classmates business, such as the ability to drive
growth virally, and the ability for members to join and access the site
directly through Facebook. These will be real assets not only for
Classmates, but also for StayFriends and the other international brands.”
With over 55 million registered consumer accounts and class directories
covering over 25,000 high schools, Classmates is the premier online and
social destination for reconnecting with the people and events from
their high school years. Classmates.com offers the largest digitized
collection of high school yearbooks online, with over 130,000 available
to view, tag, sign, and share, and what it believes to be the most
comprehensive directory of high schools and class lists in the U.S. from
the 1940s to today.
About United Online®
United Online, Inc. (Nasdaq: UNTD),
through its operating subsidiaries, is a leading provider of consumer
products and services over the Internet, where their respective brands
have attracted a large online audience that includes more than 60
million registered accounts. The company's FTD segment provides floral
and related products and services (FTD
and Interflora)
for consumers and retail florists, as well as other retail locations
offering floral and related products and services. The company's Content
& Media segment provides online nostalgia products and services (Memory
Lane, Classmates,
schoolFeed,
and StayFriends)
and online loyalty marketing services (MyPoints).
Its primary Communications segment service is Internet access (NetZero
and Juno)
including high-speed 4G mobile broadband service (NetZero
Wireless). For more information, please visit www.unitedonline.com.
About Memory Lane™
Memory Lane, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, is a premier provider
of online nostalgia products and services. Memory Lane owns and operates
both Classmates.com (www.classmates.com),
a premier destination for reconnecting with the people, places, and
events from high school years, as well as schoolFeed (www.schoolFeed.com),
one of the largest, fastest growing apps on Facebook. Founded as
Classmates in 1995, Memory Lane has built what it believes to be the
most comprehensive directory of U.S. high schools and graduating class
lists online, dating back to the 1940s. Classmates.com
also offers a library of over 130,000 high school yearbooks along with
an extensive collection of vintage magazines, classic sports highlights,
timeless photos and other nostalgic content. In addition, through its
international subsidiaries, Memory Lane operates five websites that
offer nostalgia services primarily as a social networking platform to
reconnect friends and acquaintances from high school. The sites are
operated under the StayFriends brand in Germany, Sweden, Austria, and
Switzerland (www.stayfriends.de,
www.stayfriends.se,
www.stayfriends.at,
and www.stayfriends.ch,
respectively), and under the Trombi brand in France (www.trombi.com).
For more information about Memory Lane, please visit www.memorylane.com.
About schoolFeed
schoolFeed is a fast growing high school network that makes it easy to
find and keep in touch with friends and acquaintances from high school.
It combines an online yearbook and class directory with news feeds,
interest groups, online games and virtual currency. Co-founded in 2011
by former RockYou co-founder Lance Tokuda, schoolFeed has over 19
million registered members. To learn more about schoolFeed, visit www.schoolFeed.com
or its application on Facebook at http://apps.facebook.com/school_feed/.
Note to Editors: United Online,
Memory Lane, Classmates, schoolFeed, and StayFriends are trademarks or
registered trademarks of United Online, Inc. or its subsidiaries. The
names of any other companies, products and services used herein are for
identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective
owners.
Cautionary Information Regarding
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning
of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995, as amended, based on the current expectations of
United Online, Inc. and its subsidiaries, including, without limitation,
Memory Lane, Inc. and schoolFeed, Inc. (collectively, the “company”)
about the company’s products, services, applications, features, and
business initiatives. Statements containing words such as “may,”
“believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” or similar
expressions constitute forward-looking statements. These forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to, statements about future
products, services, applications, features, and business initiatives.
Potential factors that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those in the forward-looking statements include, among others:
risks associated with the integration of an acquired business; the
launch or commercialization of new products, services, applications or
features or the success of new business initiatives; the company’s
inability to maintain key contracts or retain key personnel; the
company’s inability to maintain or increase the number of free and pay
accounts, installations of its applications, or visitors to its
websites; problems associated with the company’s operations, systems or
technologies; risks associated with litigation, governmental regulations
or investigations; as well as the risk factors disclosed in the
company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov),
including, without limitation, information under the captions
“Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results
of Operations” and “Risk Factors.” Readers are cautioned not to place
undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect
management’s analysis only as the date hereof. Any such forward-looking
statements are not guarantees of future performance or results and
involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual performance and
results to differ materially from those predicted. Reported results
should not be considered an indication of future performance. Except as
required by law, the company undertakes no obligation to publicly
release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements
that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date
hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
1 Based on AppData Facebook Apps Leaderboard (Monthly Active
Users) 6/8/2012
Source: United Online, Inc.
United Online, Inc.
Investors:
David Bigelow, 818-287-3560
dbigelow@corp.untd.com
or
Press:
Scott
Matulis, 818-287-3388
pr@untd.com