NOTE: If you’ve seen this post appearing, disappearing, and now reappearing, please chalk it up to me trying to respect RegOnline’s wishes for distributing this information and a bit of miscommunication. Since I’ve now read this news on multiple other sites and know that thousands of customers know about it, I feel safe posting it for good.
After more than a month of secrecy, Boulder’s RegOnline has finally announced that it was acquired by The Active Network on October 31st. Neither company has any news about the acquisition available on their site at this point, so details are sketchy. It’s believed that the value of the acquisition was “significant”, which makes sense as the company was profitable with annual sales estimated between $5M and $10M. RegOnline sent out an email to customers this morning which read, in part:
We are excited to inform you that on October 31, 2007, The Active Network, Inc., acquired RegOnline. The Active Network, headquartered in San Diego, CA, is a leading provider of technology and marketing solutions for event organizers, community organizations and consumer brands that enable and encourage participation…. We will maintain our offices and operations in Boulder, CO, and both Bill Flagg and myself will continue to independently run this division of the Active Network. As we have in the past, we will foster a business model that is focused on customer input and feedback, backed by integrity and respect.
Active has been handling registrations in the past via its Active Sports Technologies web property, which allows members to register sports teams and other events and to process participant registrations. It’s been known to be an aggressive acquirer, snapping up companies such as InfoSpherix for $17M earlier this year. Indeed, many believe that the delay in announcing the RegOnline acquisition has been due to the fact that Active has acquired other properties and was waiting to time the announcements. As more details emerge about this theory, I’ll try to cover them here.
By all accounts, RegOnline is a fantastic company. Customers always seemed to rave about RegOnline, and the company built its foundation on treating employees very well. For example, the company treats employees and family to a free trip to Mexico each year, and also holds regular company “fun days” where the company knocks off early and heads to a baseball game, bowling alley, or a local bar. It’s been my experience that there is tremendous payoff in doing these sorts of things. As you walked around RegOnline, you could tell it was a place where employees felt valued.
I’m sure none of that will change as the company moves forward because Bill and Attila will remain in the drivers seat of this new division of the Active Network. Congrats guys, you deserve it.
