Internet investment firm CMGI Inc said yesterday it plans to acquire Equilibrium, a provider of digital automation software for internet content development. Equilibrium’s flagship software, DeBabelizer, provides an automated way of producing and editing graphics for both the PC and Macintosh platforms. It reads and writes more than one hundred file formats including GIF, JPEG, TIF, QuickTime, and Photoshop and enables conversion between those formats. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed but CMGI said it expects to close the purchase in January 2000. Following the closing, Equilibrium will become a majority-owned operating company in the CMGI network, the company said.
The Andover, Massachusetts-based company said Equilibrium’s products will complement its diverse network of internet companies, particularly as CMGI continues to expand its reach into what it’s calling infrastructure technologies. In addition to its DeBabelizer software, Equilibrium is due to release a new set of products in the second quarter of 2000, CMGI said, although specific details about the offerings are not yet available. Equilibrium’s automation solutions permit web site content to be published, changed and updated in order to meet the needs of the end user, said David Wetherell, chairman and CEO of CMGI.
The move is the latest in a number of internet-related acquisitions the company has made in the last couple of months. During its first fiscal quarter CMGI completed the acquisitions of Alta Vista Co, Cha Technologies Inc, iAtlas Inc and Signature Network Inc. It also announced plans for five additional acquisitions, including AdForce Inc for $500m and AdKnowledge Inc for $170m. Both transactions are expected to close within a month or so. Yet another first-quarter deal saw the company purchase 250,000 shares of Akamai Technologies Inc for $26 each.
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