The email I received from Google in 2007 when they wanted to buy Zlio

The email I received from Google in 2007 when they wanted to buy Zlio (berrebi.org)

154 points by cypriend 13 years ago | 40 comments

nugget 13 years ago |

Some of these comments confuse me. What do you expect an m&a email to read like? Having been through a bunch of acquisitions, that email is par for the course, especially for a (presumably) smaller acquisition. You have an internal product sponsor who asks for basic financial info, asks for a price, has clearly laid out next steps and the process, and wants to start immediately. All positive for a first step. Some of the best corp dev guys I know have the worst grammar and email manners and to focus on that as a weakness is ridiculous...as long as they can approve a wire transfer, who cares? Some people are Youtube and have Eric layering sweet sugary syrup on their Pancakes whilst they discuss the beautiful synergies of a monster deal, but most of the time, the startup CEO is hustling it across the finish line.

citizens 13 years ago |

> "For the little story, Zlio, became blacklisted/sandboxed by Google 6 months after…. It killed the company…"

This is only speculation, but it looks like zlio.com was sandboxed/blacklisted because of rampant spamming. 4 out of the top 5 referring domains are porn sites (about 150k links).

Source: http://ahrefs.com/site-explorer/refdomains/subdomains/zlio.c...

allbombs 13 years ago | |

took a quick look, aren't those backlinks to subdomains? No idea what the product/service does but it appears subdomains are the main spam links, not the root.. So perhaps they were duped by spammers creating subdomains

robryan 13 years ago | | |

It is a create your own store product. People would have simply been making a store and then using software to spam their links everywhere. I think sub domains are usually treated as separate domains though?

citizens 13 years ago | | |

Yep, totally possible

mvkel 13 years ago |

What an awful email. Reads like a lazy VC associate trying to do as little work as possible to pass along metrics to higher ups.

jrockway 13 years ago | |

It's amazing how even when buying a company, people can't be bothered to use proper capitalization or even spell out the word "please". Wow.

I must have slept through the English class where they told me this was OK.

imglorp 13 years ago | | |

I think it's a power thing because they're manoeuvring for negotiation.

Translation: "I can't be bothered to spell because you're teensy and I have another $1B to spend today on companies 100x bigger than yours. Make with the paperwork chop chop."

Then, confirmation: "Give me your mobile so I can call you any time I feel like to make you jump, because you're the bitch now."

ekianjo 13 years ago | | |

It's funny how they refer to Schmidt, Page and Breslin as "the board" since it's obviously just 3 people :) In any large company you only use the "board" wording for a committee that's at least 15-20 people.

namank 13 years ago | |

What?

They had already met once. Given the context, it sounds like a continuation of the conversation, casual in nature, from a biz person to an engineer.

mvkel 13 years ago | | |

Why does casual need to mean "communicate poorly"? When I type out emails, casual or not, they're designed to at least get the message across.

For something as important as an acquisition, I wouldn't want to feel like I'm dealing with an intern.

skreech 13 years ago | |

Or almost like a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity from a Nigerian bank clerk.

andrewhillman 13 years ago | |

I think this was intended to read the way it does. Google A/B tests everything, including how well canned messages work vs. more personal messages like this.

mvkel 13 years ago | | |

I honestly thought this _was_ a canned message; one from a 'sales associate' eager to get a commission.

kman 13 years ago | |

It was 2007. Maybe he was typing it on a blackberry?

trevelyan 13 years ago |

They wanted financials and a valuation range? And then deep communications about technical challenges and workarounds? Reminds me that one of the nice things about owning a company is you can tell people to go away.

woodchuck64 13 years ago |

Social eCommerce Site Zlio Joins the Deadpool: http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/19/social-ecommerce-site-zlio-...

robryan 13 years ago | |

This is why I wouldn't touch SEO as a consultant. They ended up getting sued, despite little chance probably they could fix their issues without massive internal changes to the service. I guess the SEO company overpromised.

Evbn 13 years ago | | |

Referencement appears to be a black-hat-SEO French company: http://m.pinterest.com/visual3d/referencement-seo-smo/

I didn't realize, France has UK-style libel laws, where complaining about getting ripped off is punishable?

dsymonds 13 years ago |

Why is it now trendy to publish private mail like this? Is there really that much public benefit to be had?

rehack 13 years ago | |

Agree on the point you make. But out of this context, I think, its useful/interesting for Startup founders, to see what acquisition mails from Google look like.

Evbn 13 years ago | |

For a washed up has-been startup founder looking for catharsis or another 15 minutes of fame? Sure.

wilecoyote 13 years ago | | |

That seems unreasonably harsh. Feel better? I somehow doubt it.

jdg 13 years ago | | |

Clearly you don't know Jeremie.

His best work has yet to be done.

damian2000 13 years ago |

Looks like they also got banned from selling on Amazon too... http://techcrunch.com/2007/05/21/zlio-banned-from-amazon/

satp 13 years ago |

I always used to wonder about the contents of the first mail when an acquisition offer is made. Sad if all read like this! I hope not.

OldSchool 13 years ago |

Of course I don't know what the terms were, but if you're in a position to decide to take on (more?) VC or sell to Google I'm inclined to say going with the latter is the better choice.

If you're a great visionary you'll have another chance not too far down the road to show the world again. If your good fortune hitched a ride with lady luck to some extent, then shamelessly cashing out your personal bubble is also a smart thing to do.

ryanglasgow 13 years ago | |

Did you read the article? Google took longer than 30 days to close the deal, and their term sheet with Mangrove was about to expire.

He had no choice but to accept the VC funding.

OldSchool 13 years ago | | |

Sure, I read this: "After waiting for it 30 days, we decided to accept the Mangrove investment proposal." That sounds like a choice was made.

My main point is for those going forward: unless the equity you stand to convert into your own personal wealth is insignificant to you, an exit can't really stop your career for long but it also just might be the only chance you get.

Maybe the Google deal wasn't a sure thing but whether or not they could pay was not a question.

exolxe 13 years ago |

I love Jeremie's life principle which got him through the Google sandboxing/blackballing and company failure after passing on the acquisition:

“Everything that happens in your life is for your own good”, “Every challenge makes you stronger”... "All he said was, don’t worry, good things will happen after this tough experience"

--http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/ilan-abehassera