Behind the Acquisition, Volume II: Google buys JotSpot
Google just bought JotSpot, a collaborative wiki creation site, for an undisclosed amount (if you know the price, e-mail tips@valleywag.com). JotSpot announced the buyout on the corporate blog, and CNet picked up the story.
The irrepressible John Gotts, who bought the Wiki.com domain for $3 million in August (Valleywag profile here), tells me, "This will certainly make Wiki.com more valuable and make more people aware of wikis in general." (He then spent six paragraphs bragging about the success of Wiki.com — which will end up costing just shy of $4 million — and his other properties.)
Ross Mayfield, founder of JotSpot competitor SocialText, congratulated JotSpot on his blog, saying, "It has been great competing with you." Blogger Paul Kedrosky notes to me that Ross only takes three sentences to call this buyout "another great validation" of collaborative wiki services.
So for now, the major impact of the JotSpot buyout is free airtime for its competitors.
While the price is a mystery, one blogger says any price is a great payoff for the founders' $100,000 investment. But after launching its product, the company took $5.2 million in VC funding in 2004.
