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src="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337if_/http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/20/aol-acquires-personal-profile-startup-about-me/&layout=button_count&show_faces=false&width=80;&action=like&font&colorscheme=light&height=25" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:80px; height:25px;" allowtransparency="true"></iframe> </li> <div style="height:1px;clear:both;"></div> <li class="excerpt_subheader_right_comments snap_nopreview" style="margin-top:-6px;"> <a href="#comments" rel="nofollow"><span class="dsq-postid" rel="256386 http://techcrunch.com/?p=256386">View Comments</span></a> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="post_subheader_left"> <a rel="nofollow" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://techcrunch.com/author/tcmarrington/" title="Posts by Michael Arrington">Michael Arrington</a> <div style="height:4px;"></div> Dec 20, 2010 </div> </div> <div class="entry"> <script src="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337js_/http://player.ooyala.com/player.js?callback=st_ooyala_callback&deepLinkTime=00m00s&width=630&height=354&embedCode=5zMW13MTpZKYVnQDTU9PfX-lpXMhCg9A&deepLinkEmbedCode=5zMW13MTpZKYVnQDTU9PfX-lpXMhCg9A"></script><noscript><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" id="ooyalaPlayer_229z0_gbps1mrs" width="630" height="354" deeplinktime="00m00s" codebase="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337oe_/http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/swflash.cab"><param name="movie" value="http://player.ooyala.com/player.swf?embedCode=5zMW13MTpZKYVnQDTU9PfX-lpXMhCg9A&version=2"/><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="flashvars" value="embedType=noscriptObjectTag&embedCode=pteGRrMTpcKMyQ052c8NwYZ5M5FdSV3j"/><embed src="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337oe_/http://player.ooyala.com/player.swf?embedCode=5zMW13MTpZKYVnQDTU9PfX-lpXMhCg9A&version=2" bgcolor="#000000" width="630" height="354" deeplinktime="00m00s" name="ooyalaPlayer_229z0_gbps1mrs" align="middle" play="true" loop="false" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars="&embedCode=5zMW13MTpZKYVnQDTU9PfX-lpXMhCg9A" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></object></noscript> <p>Personal profile startup <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://www.about.me/">About.me</a> launched publicly, oh, all of <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/16/about-me-has-400000-beta-testers-opens-doors-to-all/">four days ago</a>. And, boom. Today AOL (our parent company), will announce that they’ve acquired the company. It will become part of the consumer applications group, led by AOL exec <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://www.crunchbase.com/person/brad-garlinghouse">Brad Garlinghouse</a>. </p> <p>Making About.Me a sister company to TechCrunch.</p> <p>Frankly I’m a little surprised by the acquisition.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337im_/http://tctechcrunch.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/aboutmetony2.png" class="snap_nopreview shot2" alt=""/>Not because About.me isn’t a potentially fascinating product. They had 400,000 people sign up for the service during the short beta period that <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/10/reserve-your-name-at-about-me/">began</a> in September. Despite the simplicity of the service there’s something compelling about it.</p> <p>And not because it’s not a good fit. Cofounder and CEO <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://www.crunchbase.com/person/tony-conrad">Tony Conrad</a> sold <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://techcrunch.com/2008/04/14/aol-buys-sphere-content-engine/">his last company, Sphere</a>, to AOL as well. And Conrad was an investor in Oddpost, which Garlinghouse acquired earlier this decade to revamp Yahoo mail. AOL seems to be genuinely excited about getting the About.me team on board and finding ways to integrate it into their mail and instant messaging products.</p> <p>But frankly it’s just too soon to take About.me off the market. Conrad has had multiple wins as an entrepreneur and is more than financially secure. and I’m surprised he didn’t wait to see this one through a bit.</p> <p>Still, it’s a big win for employees and investors, including cofounders <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://www.crunchbase.com/person/tim-young">Tim Young</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://www.crunchbase.com/person/ryan-freitas">Ryan Freitas</a>. About.me raised just $425,000 from investors including <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://www.crunchbase.com/financial-organization/aol-ventures">AOL Ventures</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://www.crunchbase.com/financial-organization/true-ventures">True Ventures</a>. The size of the acquisition isn’t being disclosed but our guess is it’s in the tens of millions of dollars.</p> <p>This is also the best news in world for competitor <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://flavors.me/">flavors.me</a>, which has a similar product. Other buyers will likely be taking a long look at them shortly.</p> <p>I had a chance to sit down with Conrad for a few minutes to talk about the deal. We’re long time friends, so excuse the mutual ribbing. And don’t miss the outtakes at the end where Conrad demands a bottle of <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://www.finewaters.com/Bottled_Water/France/Badoit.asp">Badoit</a> (the cadillac of mineral waters, I guess), and complains when he gets generic Costco water. He also tells us the real price for About.me. Video is top of post.</p> <p>Read Tony Conrad’s <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://tonyconrad.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/booyah/">blog post on the acquisition here</a>.</p> <div class="cbw snap_nopreview"><div class="cbw_header"><script src="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337js_/http://www.crunchbase.com/javascripts/widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script><div class="cbw_header_text"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://www.crunchbase.com/">CrunchBase Information</a></div></div><div class="cbw_content"><div class="cbw_subheader"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://www.crunchbase.com/company/aboutme">About.me</a></div><div class="cbw_subcontent"><script src="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337js_/http://www.crunchbase.com/cbw/company/aboutme.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><div class="cbw_subheader"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://www.crunchbase.com/company/aol">AOL</a></div><div class="cbw_subcontent"><script src="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337js_/http://www.crunchbase.com/cbw/company/aol.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><div class="cbw_subheader"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://www.crunchbase.com/person/tony-conrad">Tony Conrad</a></div><div class="cbw_subcontent"><script src="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337js_/http://www.crunchbase.com/cbw/person/tony-conrad.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><div class="cbw_subheader"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://www.crunchbase.com/person/tim-young">Tim Young</a></div><div class="cbw_subcontent"><script src="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337js_/http://www.crunchbase.com/cbw/person/tim-young.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><div class="cbw_subheader"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://www.crunchbase.com/person/ryan-freitas">Ryan Freitas</a></div><div class="cbw_subcontent"><script src="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337js_/http://www.crunchbase.com/cbw/person/ryan-freitas.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><div class="cbw_subheader"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://www.crunchbase.com/person/brad-garlinghouse">Brad Garlinghouse</a></div><div class="cbw_subcontent"><script src="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337js_/http://www.crunchbase.com/cbw/person/brad-garlinghouse.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><div class="cbw_footer">Information provided by <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://www.crunchbase.com/">CrunchBase</a></div></div></div> </div> <div class="post_footer"><ul class="snap_nopreview"> <li style="margin-top:-3px;"> <a class="DiggThisButton DiggCompact" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://digg.com/submit?url=http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/20/aol-acquires-personal-profile-startup-about-me/&title=AOL Acquires Personal Profile Startup About.Me"></a> </li> <li style="padding-right:0;margin-top:-2px;"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://tcrn.ch/eOj1aH" data-counturl="http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/20/aol-acquires-personal-profile-startup-about-me/" data-text="AOL Acquires Personal Profile Startup About.Me" data-count="horizontal" data-via="techcrunch" data-related="arrington:Author of the post">Tweet</a> </li> <li class="google-buzz-button"> <a title="Post on Google Buzz" class="google-buzz-button" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://www.google.com/buzz/post" data-button-style="small-count" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337/http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/20/aol-acquires-personal-profile-startup-about-me/" data-imageurl="http://tctechcrunch.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/aboutmetony2.png"></a> </li> <li class="snap_nopreview fb-like-button" id="fb-like"> <iframe src="https://web.archive.org/web/20101227044337if_/http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/20/aol-acquires-personal-profile-startup-about-me/&layout=standard&show_faces=false&width=200;&action=like&font&colorscheme=light&height=25" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; 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