Social Network Marketing Tycoon

**john546** · 07-25-2007, 05:00 PM

vbulletin has become a very popular and good forums software that was developed by a team that new what they were doing. Now that it's been sold, I wonder if things will stay the same and just as good as they have been or if the forums software will actually start going down hill.

**imported_Joeychgo** · 07-31-2007, 03:31 PM

We're all wondering that. I dont think so. They seem to be keeping the same developers and key people. Only time will tell.

**at0m** · 08-05-2007, 12:34 PM

I just purchased my first vB license a few days ago but I don't think they'll change anything.

I mean, that would be just stupid and would ruin vB's hard build image.

**Brandon** · 08-06-2007, 03:41 AM

I only see good things from the buy out

**LeeD** · 08-06-2007, 04:48 PM

What are you seeing that is positive at this point?

**Frito Pie** · 08-06-2007, 05:11 PM

There is a part of me that is excited about the buy-out only because I tend to be a half-full kind of person. There is a part of me that is suspicious.

I like seeing all the forums purchased by internet brands and wonder what they are doing. I'm hoping it means that the value of our forums grows with the evidence that this company is gobbling them up to add to their IPO.

It will be interesting to watch.

I'm interested in hearing what others think as well.

**richrf** · 08-07-2007, 11:37 AM

Yes, I would agree with most of the comments. It looks very bad for vBulletin.

Internet Brands is substantially a vertical market firm. They are not set up for horizontal software development and I highly doubt they care about it at all. Why did they purchase vBulletin? My guess is that they need to own the platform, so that they can fill in any holes that might concern the bankers who are bringing the company public. It is a small price to pay to make it easier to go public. The product will survive, but it will migrate in such a way to support Internet Brands' own internal long term goals. It's too bad but probably inevitable. It would have been better if a software company purchased vBulletin, but for the life of me, I don't know which company would do it. Not enough revenue and growth to be attractive as a long term investment to a large software company such as Adobe.

Rich

**Rohit Malik** · 08-08-2007, 12:33 AM

A software company should have purchased it for sure!

**Game Producer** · 08-10-2007, 09:02 AM

I wonder if they are going to increase prices now... :devil2:

**Nora** · 08-10-2007, 11:49 AM

I got rid of my vBulletin license. I bought an IPB one instead.
Changes that big aren't always a good sign. If Internet Brands would only focuss all of its attention on vB it could be okay but they own so many websites that I think its only about the money for them.

**Hobbit** · 08-10-2007, 09:23 PM

I'm really hoping they will continue to update it as much as before and not higher the price. Also, will the blog plug in be sold separately just like IPB sells it separately?

I'm being optimistic about this, but it's hard to honestly.

**imported_Anthony** · 08-11-2007, 11:29 AM

I'm not very big on forums or forum software but in all honesty, I can see many customers moving slowly away and finding alternatives that remain more loyal.

Of course every business has to sell out at some point (or does it?). But I don't see what was going so wrong for Jelsoft that they had to sell out at the very height of their time in business.

I know for a fact that now this has happened and the brand is in "untrusted" or unproven hands that I won't be making any more license purchases but instead looking at alternatives.

I'm a bit dissapointed and can only feel for those who hold more licenses than I do (I hold 4, none of which being used....yet)

**Atomm** · 08-14-2007, 01:05 PM

I <3 IBP....

I was actually considering purchasing VB for a second board idea I had, but this helps me make my decision.....

**gexla** · 08-31-2007, 12:30 AM

I don't know anything about VB but I wonder if this might be motivated by some sort of grand vision of flooding the net with VB communities on a massive scale. Just think about taking a massive domain portfolio of community minded domain names and throwing a VB site on every one to see if you could develop a community from them.

To buy multi-thousands of licenses might been crazy expensive and maybe that was part of the motivation for the buy out. On the other hand, buying out VB was also probably crazy expensive. If you want certain features to do a massive roll-out and create a huge VB platform, what better way to hire the team for yourself?

Forums have great sticky power and a loyal user base. I wonder how many of the largest forum sites that would cave to buyout offers would equal a future competitor for a users attention to sites such as Facebook or Myspace? Sounds to me like the VP borg! Better watch out!

ExpressionEngine forum module anyone? More expensive than VB but the overall system is very powerful.

**sketchyhost.com** · 09-01-2007, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richrf

Yes, I would agree with most of the comments. It looks very bad for vBulletin.

Internet Brands is substantially a vertical market firm. They are not set up for horizontal software development and I highly doubt they care about it at all. Why did they purchase vBulletin? My guess is that they need to own the platform, so that they can fill in any holes that might concern the bankers who are bringing the company public. It is a small price to pay to make it easier to go public. The product will survive, but it will migrate in such a way to support Internet Brands' own internal long term goals. It's too bad but probably inevitable. It would have been better if a software company purchased vBulletin, but for the life of me, I don't know which company would do it. Not enough revenue and growth to be attractive as a long term investment to a large software company such as Adobe.

Rich

One reason they may have purchased it is so that their own vBulletin powered sites can benefit (and there are a lot of them!).

Pros for them would be:
Free licenses
A look at other vB powered sites to buy out
A look at their competition forums
Access to very skilled software developers

**newtonapple** · 09-04-2007, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthony

I'm not very big on forums or forum software but in all honesty, I can see many customers moving slowly away and finding alternatives that remain more loyal.

Of course every business has to sell out at some point (or does it?). But I don't see what was going so wrong for Jelsoft that they had to sell out at the very height of their time in business.

I know for a fact that now this has happened and the brand is in "untrusted" or unproven hands that I won't be making any more license purchases but instead looking at alternatives.

I'm a bit dissapointed and can only feel for those who hold more licenses than I do (I hold 4, none of which being used....yet)

I think thats exactly why the previous owners sold it, it was at its height. Many many not want to hear this but at the end of the day they are running a business and when presented with a $X - $XX million dollar check the previous owners may have been tempted just enough to say "SOLD!"

From what I hear you should always sell a business at its height so you can get the most moola.

I think its all about reducing risk. If vBulletin ever went under Internet Brands would follow since most of its products are under their brand. Investors understand this so they just closed that gap and bought them out. From their standpoint I think its a good idea and small price to pay for stability, however for us "little guys" it may not be so great. I can think of plenty of products that were great when a smaller company owned them but were not so great when a giant took them.

My $0.02.

**newtonapple** · 09-04-2007, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RMWebs

One reason they may have purchased it is so that their own vBulletin powered sites can benefit (and there are a lot of them!).

Pros for them would be:
Free licenses
A look at other vB powered sites to buy out
A look at their competition forums
Access to very skilled software developers

Haha... $100 million dollar IPO... I doubt they care much about the free licenses. Besides what they paid for vBulletin probably covered that plus some more. :P

**imported_brandondrury** · 10-08-2007, 10:01 PM

Is there any chance of the new owners improving vBulletin?

Brandon

**Flashgear** · 10-15-2007, 11:46 AM

vBulletin as a company will probally just stay the same.

**BamaStangGuy** · 10-15-2007, 04:04 PM

So far things at vBulletin are the same. Which is good and bad... the bad being that they are still just as slow with development as before the buy out.