Last week’s heat wave did nothing to slow the deal announcements in the Northwest. We saw plenty of action in software, Internet, and biotech.
—The big news was the Internet search deal finally announced between Microsoft (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MSFT]]) and Yahoo (NASDAQ: [[ticker:YHOO]]), who have been hammering out the details for months. As Eric and I reported, the 10-year partnership puts Microsoft in charge of both companies’ search engine technology, while Yahoo will run advertising sales and distribution for Yahoo Search and Microsoft’s Bing. (Bing technology will be used on both companies’ search sites.) The deal is structured around revenue sharing, whereby Yahoo gets 88 percent of the money made through the partnership for at least five years. Bing will get some much-needed scale and resources, and Microsoft said it plans to spend several hundred million dollars on the integration process.
—Redmond, WA-based Concur (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CNQR]]) acquired European business software developer Etap-On-Line, as Eric reported. Financial terms were not released. Concur makes software to help companies process and manage expenses, travel, and vendor invoices.
—Portland, OR-based Webtrends acquired Seattle firm Widemile, which focuses on multivariate testing and site optimization technology. Financial details were not announced. Webtrends makes Web analytics software for business intelligence applications.
—Seattle-based Delve Networks, a video management and media platform company, formed a partnership with Akamai, the Cambridge, MA-based digital media content distributor. Financial terms were not disclosed. The two companies are teaming up to provide an online video platform to help customers publish videos online and distribute them to any digital media player (including mobile devices). The move is seen as an effort to better compete with online video firms like Brightcove, also based in Cambridge, MA.
—Seattle-based Amnis raised the first $839,000 of a venture round expected to be worth $1.5 million, as Luke reported. Amnis, which makes a scientific instrument used to produce detailed images of large numbers of cells, raised the money from existing investors CVF LLC, MedVenture Associates, OrbiMed Capital, and angels. The company’s customers include the National Institutes of Health, the Pasteur Institute in France, and large drugmakers like Amgen and GlaxoSmithKline.
—Wilsonville, OR-based electronic design automation firm Mentor Graphics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MENT]]) bought Embedded Alley Solutions, based in San Jose, CA, for an undisclosed price, as Eric reported. Mentor plans to use Embedded Alley’s mobile software development programs to improve its own operating system.
—Covance (NYSE: [[ticker:CVD]]), the Princeton, NJ-based drug development services company, has agreed to acquire a Seattle laboratory run by Merck’s Rosetta operation, as Luke reported. Merck has been winding down this operation since October, but has agreed to pay Covance $145 million over five years for genomic analysis services from the Seattle lab, called the Rosetta Gene Expression Laboratory, based in South Lake Union.
