On Friday news broke that Moz has been acquired by iContact, subsidiary of J2 Global. The financial details of this acquisition were not disclosed and the news about this came to a shock to many, although, we all know the goal in the past several years was to likely sell the company.
Although, the goal was probably to sell the company and disclose the financial deal and how great it was for those VCs that backed the company. But we all know about the company's struggles where in 2016 the company cut 28% of the staff, then Rand Fishkin - the co-founder/owner in 2017 said he is transitioning from company and stepping down as CEO and then in 2018 formerly announcing his departure from Moz. Rand was/is a huge part of the SEO industry, I interviewed him about starting Moz and then leaving the company - he was (as he always is) very transparent.
I hope Rand, his family and all those who have a financial stake in the company came out well from this acquisition. They worked so hard to build this company, that made the industry better in so many ways, and changed the lives of not just those who worked at Moz but also of every company and individual in our space.
Sarah Bird, the CEO of Moz since 2014, wrote this statement:
"Since the beginning, Moz has elevated SEO as a critical strategy for growth and brand recognition. With this news, our mission remains the same. Moz should only innovate faster and more effectively for our customers," said Sarah Bird, CEO of Moz. "The shared focus on delivering powerful digital marketing solutions is a perfect fit for our brand, staff and community. We are excited to begin collaborating on new solutions for our collective customers."
Moz got a lot of responses to the news on social:
Big news - Moz has been acquired by iContact! 🎉 With our shared understanding of the importance of SEO & email, we look forward to creating powerful marketing solutions for our customers. Watch @SarahBird & Michael Pepe from iContact discuss the merger: https://t.co/a79cJhkoHK pic.twitter.com/IxoT7hVUOZ
— Moz (@Moz) June 4, 2021
Congrats to all those involved - what an amazing journey!
Forum discussion at Twitter.
