MCLEAN, Va. – Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI) has acquired Ripple6, Inc., a leading provider of social media services. Ripple6 will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Gannett and will continue to offer its best of breed social media technology and analytics not only to Gannett but also to an array of top tier marketers and Web publishers. Terms were not disclosed.
“From the moment we began working with Ripple6, we realized we had found a company that is richly innovative and can change the way social media is offered and monetized online,” said Craig Dubow, chairman, president and CEO of Gannett. “Ripple6 will join our other enterprises in fueling the rapid growth of our digital business, which seeks to apply innovative technology and content solutions to the needs of all our customers. With the Ripple6 platform, we can help users create communities and connect with their friends and family in highly pleasing ways, while providing marketers with innovative advertising opportunities and measurable results.”
Ripple6 currently powers Gannett’s MomsLikeMe.com sites, which recently rolled out in 80 local markets across the country and have more than one million moms visiting each month. The company also powers social media properties for Procter & Gamble and the soon to be launched MixingBowl.com, Meredith Corporation’s social network around meals and meal planning.
“We’re excited, because we get the best of both worlds here,” said Sang Kim, CEO of Ripple6. “We’ll take advantage of the synergy and resources of our new parent, yet we’ll maintain the independence that helps generate innovative solutions for marketers and publishers.”
Using the Ripple6 platform, publishers can offer their users advanced social networking capabilities, while generating incremental revenue through Ripple6’s proprietary social marketing innovations. Ripple Analytics will also help publishers better understand how their users interact within social networks by offering a true word of mouth measurement and mapping capability.
Ripple6 also offers unique opportunities to advertisers and marketers. Among the innovations are offerings that make it possible for marketers to effectively engage in online social networks. Cloud Communities™ enable marketers to participate in their customers’ existing social networks by creating and syndicating communities across the web. With Social Insights™, marketers can conduct ongoing research within the private spaces of social networks. Both solutions include Ripple Analytics for access to metrics and insights beyond page views and visitors, while still protecting the privacy of the individuals interacting with the platform.
“We’ve had a highly productive two-year relationship with Ripple6 to create new communities for our brands, and we look forward to continuing it in their new structure,” said Pat Gentile, head of Procter & Gamble Productions, Inc. “We’ve been impressed by their innovations in social marketing and the insights that they can deliver for marketers.”
As part of the transaction, the 10 percent share of Ripple6 owned by Chris Saridakis, senior vice president and chief digital officer of Gannett, was bought out completely by Gannett. He did not participate in the sale negotiations.
About Gannett
Gannett Co., Inc. is a leading international news and information company that publishes 85 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation’s largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns nearly 900 non-daily publications in the USA and USA WEEKEND, a weekly newspaper magazine. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom’s second largest regional newspaper company. Newsquest publishes 17 daily paid-for titles, approximately 300 weekly newspapers, magazines and trade publications, and a network of award-winning Web sites. Gannett also operates 23 television stations in the United States and is an Internet leader with sites sponsored by its TV stations and newspapers including USATODAY.com, one of the most popular news sites on the Web.
About Ripple6, Inc.
Ripple6™ helps marketers and publishers implement their business strategy through social media. The company provides an enterprise white label social media platform to create consumer engagements and relationships, enable social marketing, generate consumer insights, and facilitate commerce and collaboration. It is easily customized to incorporate a brand’s look and feel for integration into an existing web site or to create an entirely new site. Ripple6 is based in New York and its list of clients and partners includes Procter & Gamble, Gannett Co., Meredith Corporation, and General Mills. For more information, visit www.ripple6.com.
