Online publication Re/code has reported that Klout, the online social influence scoring platform, is set to be sold to social customer service company Lithium Technologies. The deal is reported to be in “the low nine figures,” including a combination of cash and Lithium private stock. While the numbers are unclear, it can be presumed that the deal was signed for at least $100 million.
The two companies are said to be a great fit in terms of topic focus, as Lithium Technologies provides enterprise social customer experience management software and Klout provides a platform for measuring social influence. This acquisition comes at a good time for Klout due to the fact they have tried a variety of monetization strategies while falling short of the success they hoped to achieve with them.
Most notably, Klout has relied heavily on a business model involving “Klout Perks,” where brands entice influential individuals with products and promotions in hopes to achieve some positive word of mouth marketing.
They have also pursued data licensing deals with Microsoft’s Bing and other companies. Most recently they have launched a new content recommendation and scheduling system that helps people share content tailored to their audience to help raise their Klout score.
While the deal is officially signed it has not yet been closed. It’s difficult to determine what this deal means for both companies as they have declined to provide a comment on the acquisition. I can only hope this leads to further innovation by Klout and more insight into the social web and its users.
