Germany-based social business network XING announces it acquires amiando, a main European player in the area of online event management and ticketing services, that provides various social tools and possibilities in the area of viral marketing, referral marketing etc.
Amiando, that’s also headquartered in Germany, has organized and processed (online payment is included in the platform of course) 100,000 events in 2009, according to the official press release.
XING (ages ago known as OpenBC before changing its name in 2006) wants to offer the business services amiando provides to its professional users. The social network has over 40,000 so-called specialist groups and 10.11 million members of which 4.27 million are based in German-speaking countries. In Spain, XING has over 1.5 million users and in Turkey 1 million. The company has offices in both countries.
Hamburg-based Xing pays over €10 million to acquire amiando, of which €5.1 million will be paid at the time of acquisition and up to €5.25 million on March 31, 2013.
This second payment depends on a number of conditions, including the remaining of amiando’s management team and obviously results.
The exact revenue of amiando is not known. XING reported an EBITDA of €4.46 million for its third quarter of 2010, achieving its highest operating result since it launched. Especially growth in the “e-Recruiting” business unit contributed to this rise.
Amiando’s Felix Haas stays on board as CEO of the online event management company that has a staff of 35.
Haas explains the acquisition by pointing at the obvious synergies between both businesses.
It’s an interesting move from XING and a sign of where social networks for professionals might (continue to) head in the future: from networking to web-based business services, either via partnerships or acquisitions.
What’s next in this field where LinkedIn still rules?
My take: CRM.