Online chat solutions provider LivePerson Inc. (Nasdaq: LPSN) has acquired Israeli social networks company Kasamba Inc. a provider of live expert advice delivered online via real-time chat to consumers. Under the terms of the agreement, LivePerson will acquire the outstanding common stock of Kasamba and assume all of its outstanding options for approximately $40 million, comprised of $9 million in cash and approximately $31 million in stock.
LivePerson said that the acquisition of Kasamba, combined with the recently announced launch of LivePersonalShoppers.com, will accelerate its expansion into the direct-to-consumer market.
Kasamba's thousands of experts sell their knowledge via real-time chat to the more than one million monthly visitors to Kasamba.com. Kasamba has experts in dozens of categories, including personal counseling and coaching, computer services, education and tutoring, health, business and finance. Currently, Kasamba's business model is based on receiving a portion of the gross expert fees. In 2006, the experts generated approximately $20 million in gross fees of which Kasamba received approximately $7 million, an increase from approximately $8.4 million in gross fees and approximately $2.7 million in net revenue to Kasamba in 2005.
LivePerson currently provides live chat and customer service software to companies and supports more than 50 million consumer chat interactions annually across its existing customer base.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on June 26, 2007
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