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Google Acquires Urchin

I’ve been sitting on this all day because I could not get confirmation, but damned if it doesn’t come in an email from Google. I shoulda run with the tip I got from a loyal reader….in any case, Google has purchased a web analytics company with serious enterprise mojo.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – March 28, 2005 – Google Inc. today announced it

has agreed to acquire Urchin Software Corporation, a San Diego,

California based web analytics company.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Urchin is a web site analytics solution used by web site owners and

marketers to better understand their users’ experiences, optimize

content and track marketing performance. Urchin tools are available as

a hosted service, a software product and through large web hosting

providers. These products are used by thousands of popular sites on the

Internet.

Google plans to make these tools available to web site owners and

marketers to better enable them to increase their advertising return on

investment and make their web sites more effective.

“We want to provide web site owners and marketers with the

information they need to optimize their users’ experience and

generate a higher return-on-investment from their advertising

spending,” said Jonathan Rosenberg, vice president of product

management, Google. “This technology will be a valuable addition to

Google’s suite of advertising and publishing products.”

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions. Google

anticipates that the acquisition will close before the end of April.

So this is interesting on a number of levels. Urchin was a third party system that many used to understand their Google ads, among others. As part of a Google suite of tools, it will take on a decidedly different cast. More as the word trickles out. BTW, I was told by the tipster that the price was $30 million.

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