Web 2.0 Services Being Bought by Media Companies?

Already this week, I’ve caught wind of at least 2 acquisitions of “Web 2.0″ services/websites by media companies. Media companies, not tech companies. I think this may be an interesting trend – and a very necessary one.

The two I refer to are Kaboodle (by Hearst Corporation) and Clipmarks‘ buy-out by Forbes, which is almost confirmed. I initially thought, in regards to Forbes, that they are picking up on their recent publicity (as if they need it), with Fake Steve Jobs. But on seconds thoughts, this may be slightly fantasy-land based thinking.

On the face of it, straight away, you can see both Kaboodle and Clipmarks are not media outlets. They are not press, or blogs, or magazines. Hearst, and Forbes, deal in these areas – and it seems very interesting to me that they would take an interest in something out of their usual line of business. Maybe they are worried that new media is going to trump them. Maybe.

If I may, I’d like to explain why I believe these types of deals and acquisitions are 100% necessary for the web to progress on its current path. In tech today, we only really have a handful of big tech companies that can instantly come to mind as targets to buy. These are namely Google, Yahoo, Apple, Microsoft, IBM (maybe).

The rate of release with new web services and products is larger than the group of tech organisations viable enough to go for a purchase, financially or otherwise. All these startups are looking for exits at one time or another, and acquisitions seem to take preference over IPOs. I almost wanted to add “this time around” to that sentence.

So we need companies with deep pockets from separate, but linked industries, to dive in and take some of the slack if a larger percentage of startups are to succeed with their exits. Simple point, jumbled post. Story of my life.

Matt Harwood is an Independent Online Media Consultant from Bedfordshire, UK. His background covers Interactive Marketing, and Design.