It was bound to happen…the guys at Jellyfish have created such an internet buzz about their site, it attracted the attention of not just ONE of the big guys, but the biggest guy: Microsoft.
The purchase price is reported to be $50 million. Microsoft is letting the site keep the Jellyfish name, as well as their current employees (who’ll get to stay in Madison, Wisconsin).
Jellyfish co-founder Brian Wiegand told the Wisconsin State Journal that they were initially approached by Microsoft three months ago, that they completed the transaction last Thursday, and that Jellyfish will make a formal announcement of the purchase today.
Microsoft, via their Live Search Blog, said, “Jellyfish has done some really innovative work in comparative shopping engines. We think the technology has some interesting potential applications as we continue to invest heavily in shopping and commerce as a key component of Live Search.”
In Jellyfish chat this morning, Brian told members voicing concerns about how the purchase will affect the site, “…thanks for supporting Jellyfish. I promise that we won’t lose the customer centric philosophy going forward. I will still be here.” Co-founder Mark McGuire will be staying on as well.
Update, 10/4: An interesting article about how Jellyfish fits into Microsoft’s strategy is in today’s InfoWorld Blog.
