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Google buys Meebo

blog.meebo.com

81–90 of 116 posts

Re: Google buys Meebo

#81
post #49
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most might be too strong, but it seems pretty bad. The chicago office is gone as a result of the acquisition I'm told. Reports are starting to roll in about other locations http://betabeat.com/2012/06/meebos-engineers-headed-to-googl...

Did they have any engineering folks outside the bay area?

I thought they were headquartered in Austin for some reason. Am I thinking of some other chat company?

Re: Google buys Meebo

#83
I like meebo, I always have and still use it (for AIM). I consider myself a fan even though I used to hate: "They got 15 million for online instant messaging?"

I really liked how in the early days they would show off their growth, new office/employees, etc. when you logged in. It subconsciously acted as a source of inspiration.

Re: Google buys Meebo

#84
post #25

One thing no outlet has reported is that everyone except business development and select engineers were laid off as a result of the deal. This all comes from someone who left Meebo recently and is still close with people that work there. Not sure exactly how many, but it sounds like it was a good number. Note: I said it was the majority, that's what my friend made it sound like, but I'm not sure.. will update once I…

That sounds pretty bad if true.

Is there a point of working for a startup if there's no financial upside, only the downside?

Not being in the US, I'm curious if people getting laid-off from funded startups get severance packages.

Re: Google buys Meebo

#85
post #84
post #25

One thing no outlet has reported is that everyone except business development and select engineers were laid off as a result of the deal. This all comes from someone who left Meebo recently and is still close with people that work there. Not sure exactly how many, but it sounds like it was a good number. Note: I said it was the majority, that's what my friend made it sound like, but I'm not sure.. will update once I…

That sounds pretty bad if true. Is there a point of working for a startup if there's no financial upside, only the downside? Not being in the US, I'm curious if people getting laid-off from funded startups get severance packages.

They're not getting laid off by a startup now they're getting laid off by Google. They likely get a severance. In CA at least if they're laying off a significant portion it's cosidered a plant closing which should give everyone about 6 months severance.

Re: Google buys Meebo

#86
post #81
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did they have any engineering folks outside the bay area?

I thought they were headquartered in Austin for some reason. Am I thinking of some other chat company?

Meebo was based out of Mountain View, right next to Red Rock Cafe.

Re: Google buys Meebo

#87

To me this makes sense as Meebo has really transformed themselves from a "chat" company to an "advertising toolbar" company. They (for better or worse) absolutely dominate the annoying popup toolbar at the bottom of a website market. Ex: http://www.slate.com

That toolbar is godawful, and I have no idea how they managed to sign up so many companies to display it. I mean.. it's not like they had access to all these advertisers since they were primarily a chat company. It's something that can be duplicated by any one of us. What gives?

It's the result of an incredible bd and ad sales team. If you look at the senior team, esp in sales, it's a lot of very senior CNET veterans who took along most of their experience and contacts from CNET to Meebo.

This is not something duplicated easily.

Re: Google buys Meebo

#88
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That toolbar is godawful, and I have no idea how they managed to sign up so many companies to display it. I mean.. it's not like they had access to all these advertisers since they were primarily a chat company. It's something that can be duplicated by any one of us. What gives?

It's the result of an incredible bd and ad sales team. If you look at the senior team, esp in sales, it's a lot of very senior CNET veterans who took along most of their experience and contacts from CNET to Meebo. This is not something duplicated easily.

Yes, but it probably didn't need most of the original functionality of meebo either. It was essentially a chat bar for webpages...

Re: Google buys Meebo

#89
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's true. They had a lot of people using their messenger client. More to do with mistakes and execution. Why did they take $70m in funding? That's a ridiculous amount of investment to take. Why couldn't they monetize that amount of eyeballs?

Or go beyond monetizing eyeballs. Turn it into a live chat service, so visitors to your website can instantly communicate with you. Or do what Chatterous did and let people create custom IM group chats. Maybe they did these things and I didn't notice, but anything seems better than 'Let's put a toolbar at the bottom of other peoples' sites!'

Yeah, they had that back in 2007. Meebo bar appeared in Dec 2009.

see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meebo#Timeline

Re: Google buys Meebo

#90

To me this makes sense as Meebo has really transformed themselves from a "chat" company to an "advertising toolbar" company. They (for better or worse) absolutely dominate the annoying popup toolbar at the bottom of a website market. Ex: http://www.slate.com

Does the toolbar even allow chatting with site staff like Olark? (seemingly no) whilst a useful thing to do right now: Olark is also expensive.
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