text: Spiceworks Just Got Acquired by Publisher Ziff-Davis | MangoLassi
  Spiceworks Just Got Acquired by Publisher Ziff-Davis
  Ziff-Davis acquired Ekahau and a number of Ekahau's top people resigned over the last month or so. Have to see how this plays out.
  @Nic said in Spiceworks just got acquired:
  They did a lot of denying, but we've been saying this for six months. So the rumours were definitely all true.
  poteet last edited by
  Time to see what the fallout is, and how much of everyone's personal info gets "accidentally" included in the consolidation of digital assets, and ooops it's all been sold off to even more advertisers.
  RojoLoco last edited by @poteet
  @poteet said in Spiceworks just got acquired:
  So you mean they will continue doing what they have been doing for years?
  Being fairly fastidious about using specific aliases for specific services, I can honestly say I don't get much spam from SW aside from those vendors I've actually reached out to.
  DustinB3403 last edited by @poteet
  @poteet they rarely email, most of their spam is in the targeted ad space.
  So let's say you post something about Ubiquiti on their forum, they collect that metadata, sell it, and then you'll get more ads for that type of equipment.
  Well this is all going to be very interesting.
  Nic last edited by @Reid Cooper
  Confirmed layoffs being listed here:
  https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/2226718-with-the-changes-in-the-community-would-like-to-say-thanks-to
  Reid Cooper last edited by @Nic
  @Nic said in Spiceworks Just Got Acquired by Publisher Ziff-Davis:
  How are you confirming these are layoffs?
  @DustinB3403 said in Spiceworks Just Got Acquired by Publisher Ziff-Davis:
  Aside from the affected people posting on other media, like this:
  You can hit people up and ask them directly if you want...
  Ryan Rimmer for example.
  @JaredBusch oh. . .
  Well, for those of you who know, ML was attempting to purchase SW several months ago and for very logical reasons they weren't willing to try to sell to us (we know how the sausage is made so there can't be any bluffing like you could to Ziff Davis), but they refused at the time to deny any financial failure or plans to sell details: so we've known for months that they were looking for a buyer and hoping to find one before time ran out. They were smart not to try to sell to us, we were confident that the financial discovery phase would have resulted in a valuation far lower than we assume that they got with ZD. ZD is a logical buyer for them, all things considered. Good for them to sell to, ZD will likely regret the purchase heavily once they attempt to incorporate.
  david.wiese last edited by @scottalanmiller
  It's a bit of a bummer. I'm pretty fond of the site and community. While I no longer use the product, the community has always been a fun spot and mostly helpful. A lot of the people here on ML are the reason I ever joined SW in the first place. Hopefully after today's shakeup they are able to leverage some of this new backing to get things back on track and growing again. Trying to stay optimistic.
  scottalanmiller last edited by @david.wiese
  @david-wiese said in Spiceworks Just Got Acquired by Publisher Ziff-Davis:
  Well they were never profitable and always lived on venture capital funding. That was never a secret. Their model was built on huge growth year over year and once they started shrinking, there was no way it was going to work.
  The rumours that we had heard, but SW asked us not to repeat (but didn't deny) was that they only had 6 months of funds left and had to be bought before that money ran out or they'd be over and done with no possibility of a future. Obviously that rumour, which was the foundation of the attempting to be purchased rumour, is almost certainly true as it would be the only reason for the hasty sale. No concern over that getting out now as the purchase is done. So ZD either knew and was okay with the financial situation, or is just finding out now. Either way, not SW's problem any more.
  The "rumour" was from SW staff internally. Several employees had let slip that there were no funds left and the only hope was to make it till Spiceworld was over and maybe find a buyer during that time. So this is very much the eleventh hour if that insider info was true, but everything sounds like exactly would be expected if it was true.
  ZD has a strong play here in liquidating SW assets and stuff, rolling it into their "online magazine" portfolio and operating it at a fraction of the current costs.
  scottalanmiller last edited by @dimforest
  @dimforest said in Spiceworks Just Got Acquired by Publisher Ziff-Davis:
  Hopefully after today's shakeup they are able to leverage some of this new backing to get things back on track and growing again. Trying to stay optimistic.
  ZD doesn't operate communities, but content platforms. My guess is that they will be looking to make it more of a magazine than a community. But just a guess, but that's where ZD's value would appear to be.
  Man, I have so many posts there... but anyway...
  @dbeato said in Spiceworks Just Got Acquired by Publisher Ziff-Davis:
  I completely doubt that there is any chance now that the community will "go away". That would seem crazy. Rather my expectation is a change of focus away from products (look at the layoffs, product support was hit, so likely those are done as they don't make any money themselves) and away from community and towards original content which is what ZD already has teams for so they can simply use SW as another place to put that content.
  @scottalanmiller said in Spiceworks Just Got Acquired by Publisher Ziff-Davis:
  Makes sense, more focused marketing then.
  Wouldn't any attempt to turn the community into a more passive audience only for pre-written content simply kill off the community? Speaking only for myself the only reason I'm on there now is because I kept finding myself there when searching for answers to questions. There's a million options for articles, forums that actually produce solutions however..... those are few and far between.
  and lower overhead. I'd be looking for any way that they can cut costs, like leaving Austin completely.
  This line is not very encouraging for the ongoing health of the community: "As a combined company, our focus is clear, and our goals are achievable: to build the preeminent marketplace that connects technology buyers and sellers"
  @Kelly said in Spiceworks Just Got Acquired by Publisher Ziff-Davis:
  Depends on how you look at it. The assumption was that they were going to close up shop and shut down the community by October or November. Now it seems that the community is staying. So it's extremely encouraging compared to the reasonable alternatives.
  That may have always been their desired business model, but the community spiraled into such a richer resource than that. It would be a discredit to the community to limit description that way.
  Once taken over, they could possibly start charging a small fee for membership to include the help desk and monitoring products. A buy out company normally looks at ways of increasing profits.