Gabriel News
GABRIEL VENTURE PARTNERS ANNOUNCE THE ACQUISITION OF AN INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO COMPANY
Gannett, Knight Ridder and Tribune Jointly Acquire CrossMedia Services
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. – May 21, 2004 - Gabriel Venture Partners is pleased to announce the acquisition of one of its portfolio companies, CrossMedia Services, Inc. - a leading provider of Web-based marketing solutions for national and local retailers - by a consortium of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), Knight Ridder, Inc. (NYSE: KRI) and Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB).
CrossMedia Services, an example of an e-commerce startup success story, through a winning combination of operating discipline, a strong management team, and committed investors. The Company developed into a leading online service provider to the major offline retailers and catalog vendors. It further consolidated its leadership position through the acquisition of DS Retail Technologies earlier this year.
Gabriel Venture Partners saw promise in CrossMedia as a natural evolution point for the convergence of clicks and mortar and the Internet, and played an integral role in guiding the Company through the difficult economic downturn.
Gabriel first invested in CrossMedia Services in 1999, when the Company was known as SalesHound.com, and focused on building a destination Web site for aggregated promotion information at local brick and mortar stores. Today, SalesHound.com continues to operate as part of CrossMedia’s BroadReach distribution service.
“Gabriel is proud to have played a key role in helping CrossMedia Services reach this stage of success,” said Phil Samper of Gabriel Venture Partners. “The Company is a case study for the effects of an excellent CEO, solid management, consistent execution and savvy customer focus.”
According to Brian Hand, CEO of CrossMedia, "Gabriel Venture Partners has been a great venture partner for CrossMedia Services. During our 4+ year affiliation with Gabriel Venture Partners, our company faced many challenges that required we change course mid-stream. Gabriel Venture Partners supported us from our early days through our business model transition to the sale of our company. Having spent nearly 16 years in the venture capital & investment banking business prior to starting the company, I interacted with many venture capital firms. Gabriel Venture Partners is one of the best I have ever had the pleasure to work with. On a personal level, Gabriel’s board representative has provided the company with sound advice based on his years of relevant experience in marketing, advertising and technology, and he has been a wonderful mentor to me.”
About CrossMedia Services, Inc.
CrossMedia Services, Inc. provides turnkey solutions for brick & mortar retailers, catalog retailers and industrial catalogers that enable the targeting of promotions to shoppers via the Internet. CrossMedia Services’ solutions transform printed promotions (such as sales circulars, catalogs, run-of-press ads, direct mail, etc.) into an interactive Web format, versioned on variables such as location or type of shopper. These solutions leverage the creative layout in print promotions, incorporate feature rich functionality and integrate with extensive analytics about shopper pre-purchase behavior. Investors in CrossMedia Services include Gabriel Venture Partners, River Cities Capital Funds and Trident Capital.
About Gabriel Venture Partners
Gabriel Venture Partners® is a hands-on, early-stage venture capital firm with more than $260M under management across its offices in Silicon Valley and the Mid-Atlantic. Gabriel’s team of investors actively partner with portfolio companies and leverage their combined operating experience to provide value through customer and partner introductions, as well as assistance with go-to-market strategy and positioning. Gabriel focuses on specific sectors of information technology, including Wireless, Infrastructure Software & Systems, and Enterprise Software & Services. Representative investments include Placeware (acquired by Microsoft), IPWireless, and Netscaler. For more information, please visit: www.gabrielvp.com.
About Gannett Co., Inc.
Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is a leading international news and information company that publishes 101 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation’s largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns in excess of 500 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 more than 300 titles, including 17 daily newspapers, and a network of prize-winning Web sites. Gannett also operates 22 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 Knight Ridder, Inc.
Knight Ridder (NYSE: KRI) is the nation’s second-largest newspaper publisher, with products in print and online. The company publishes 31 daily newspapers in 28 U.S. markets, with a readership of 8.7 million daily and 12.6 million Sunday. Knight Ridder also has investments in a variety of Internet and technology companies and two newsprint companies. The company's Internet operation, Knight Ridder Digital, develops and manages the company’s online properties. It is the founder and operator of Real Cities
(www.RealCities.com), the largest national network of city and regional Web sites in more than 100 U.S. markets. Knight Ridder and Knight Ridder Digital are headquartered in San Jose, Calif.
About Tribune Company
The Tribune (NYSE: TRB) is one of the country’s premier media companies, operating businesses in broadcasting and publishing. It reaches more than 80 percent of U.S. households and is the only media organization with television stations, newspapers and websites in the nation’s top three markets. In publishing, Tribune operates 14 leading daily newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsday and Spanish-language Hoy, plus a wide range of targeted publications. The company’s broadcasting group operates 26 television stations; Superstation WGN on national cable; WGN-AM in Chicago; and the Chicago Cubs baseball team. Popular news and information websites complement Tribune’s print and broadcast properties and extend the company’s nationwide audience.
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Gabriel Venture Partners
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