Staffing firm Adecco Group announced this week that they are acquiring the digital retraining firm General Assembly. General Assembly has grown at a 30% compound annual growth rate, reaching revenue of $100 million in 2017. The New York-based startup was founded in 2011 and operates 20 global facilities where it teaches employees various skills ranging from web development, user experience design, digital marketing, data science and machine learning. Adecco stated that the acquisition will hit earnings in 2018 and would serve to establish them as a “leader in the fast-growing up/reskilling segment”. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018, after which General Assembly will continue to operate as its own division under founder and CEO Jake Schwartz.
In marketing news this week, content-sourcing platform and online community Inbound.org announced that they will be discontinuing the site to launch a new online community, Growth Hub in its stead. Inbound recognized the value of their community, but cited the growing irrelevance of user-curated marketing content as reasons for discontinuing the site. Current Inbound users will be able to migrate their karma to Growth Hub, a self-described work in progress, according to a post by the website.
The e-commerce world saw Jeff Bezos release his latest annual shareholder letter, in which he revealed that Amazon now has more than 100 million paying Prime members. According to the letter, Amazon added more Prime subscribers in 2017 than in any previous year, sold “tens of millions” of Echo devices and shipped more than five billion items worldwide through Prime. Bezos also shared that the “technical work” to bring Prime member benefits to Whole Foods is currently underway.
Data security news this week had Facebook confirm a new security research report revealing that Javascript trackers embedded on websites using “Login With Facebook” were collecting user data for third parties. The breach allows the trackers to gather a user’s name, email address, age range, gender, location, and profile picture among other data (depending on what the user has initially provided). The trackers are linked to parent companies known to sell user data, and were found on 434 of the top 1 million websites, including cloud database provider MongoDB.
New in SaaS business listings this week we have a $1M B2B customer support software business, with strong product market fit driving an impressive CAGR of c.62% for the 2013 to 2017 period, sticky product with low net MRR churn rate of c.2% and high CLV of c.$2,750 over the last year, feature-rich software and low owner involvement with a full team ready to transition with the business.
New in affiliate business listings this week is a $100K travel and leisure site, with diverse income streams across affiliate partnerships, e-commerce and advertising, strong traffic profile with over 1.3M unique users over the last year, and thousands of highly engaged social media followers. If you are interested in either of the above businesses, follow the link to request a prospectus.
In events news, Founder Thomas Smale will be heading off to MicroConf 2018 in Las Vegas from April 29 to May 3. If you will be at MicroConf (either Growth or Starter edition) make sure to stop by the Growth and Starter Networking Mashup we are sponsoring at 8pm in the Havana Room at the Tropicana! You can also reply to this email to set up a meeting.
Finally, LTVConf is offering a “Team Two Day Ticket” for those who want to bring along team members! Get 4 tickets for the price of 3 and an additional 75% off if you use code TEAMDISCOUNT at check out. Remember, the FE client discounts end on Sunday, so make sure to use code FEINTERNATIONAL for 50% off any tickets. Seats are packing up, so don’t wait around to reserve your spot!
Continue reading below for more on Adecco Group’s acquisition of General Assembly, Inbound.org’s transition to GrowthHub, and Javascript trackers on Facebook user data.
Listings
New:
SaaS – B2B Customer Support Software – $37K MRR
- Strong product market fit driving an impressive CAGR of c.62% for the period 2013 to 2017
- Sticky product with low net MRR churn rate of c.2% and high CLV of c.$2,750 over the trailing 12 months
- Feature-rich and innovative software with a leadership position in the rapidly growing customer support software niche
- Low owner involvement with a full team willing to transition post-sale
Yearly net profit: $35,000
Asking price: $121,000
Affiliate – Travel & Leisure – $4K gross/mo
- Well-known brand with nine years of operational history and a leadership position in the lucrative Holiday & Travel niche
- Diverse income streams across affiliate partnerships, e-commerce, and advertising
- Strong traffic profile, with over 1.3M unique users over the last 12 months
- Thousands of engaged social media followers
Yearly net profit: $30,000
Asking price: $100,000
Sold:
Affiliate – Digital Services – $500 gross/mo
In The News…
Adecco Group Acquires General Assembly
This week, Adecco announced they will be acquiring General Assembly for $412.5 million.
Adecco Group is a staffing firm which recruits permanent and temporary employees for large businesses has strategically acquired General Assembly because it believes it will establish itself as a “leader in the fast-growing up/reskilling segment.” General Assembly, which is based in New York, allows anyone to enroll in full-time courses in subjects like web development, user experience design, digital marketing and a growing array of data science and machine learning. The company has grown 30% (CAGR) and experienced 2017 revenue of $100 million, according to Zurich-based Adecco. General Assembly has received $120 million in venture capital funding since its founding, and will continue to operate as a separate division, let by founder and CEO Jake Schwartz.
The deal is expected to finalize in Q2 2018 given regulatory approvals go through.
Inbound Transition to Growth Hub
Inbound.org, the user-curated content provider, has announced this week that they will be discontinuing the site in favor of launching Growth Hub.
Growth Hub is still a work in progress, though HubSpot has stated that the emphasis will be on community. Inbound.org members will be able to transfer any existing karma to Growth Hub, which is billed as a place for growth professionals in marketing, sales and service to collaborate as a community. Hubspot determined that user-curated marketing content is no longer relevant due to the changing nature of the way people find and share content nowadays. With the rise of messaging platforms and social recommendation engines, social sharing via submission is the less efficient option nowadays.
Note that the process to join Growth Hub will be opt in, and it is best to do so with the email you currently use for Inbound.org.
Javascript Trackers Collecting Facebook User Data
Facebook this week confirmed a new security research report which showed that companies were using Javascript trackers to collect user data on 435 of the top 1 million websites.
Many sites give the option to log in with Facebook, and it has come to light that Javascript trackers have hijacked the process. These trackers, which get embedded on websites using Login With Facebook, are capable of capturing users’ name, email address, age range, gender, general location and profile picture, dependent on what users have provided to the website. While it has not yet been confirmed what the companies do with the data, several of the parent companies including Tealium, AudienceStream, Lytics and ProPS sell services to monetize publishers using collected user data.
Facebook has recently increased its API auditing efforts as it searches for other developers using trackers to exploit user data.