Glam (Media) Buys Ning (Social)

According to an Ad Age Digital article, Vertical media company, Glam Media, is acquiring Ning, the world’s largest platform for building white-labeled social networking sites, to diversify Glam’s revenue portfolio.

Ning powers a wide array of white-labeled online social communities consisting of over 100,000 publishers (including Martha Stewart, Scott Brown and the Peace Corps). More than half of Ning site are integrated with social media and search platforms like, Twitter, Facebook and Google. All that reach values Ning at over $150 million, according to some analysts.

[quotes] “It was really like Facebook in a box,” Says Mr. Arora describing Ning’s robust social features in an Ad Age Digital article. [/quotes]

It’s our belief that the move is more of a short cut to making [tooltip content=’More social media Shameless News’ url=’http://dev.jdm-digital.com/tag/social-media/’ ]social media[/tooltip] play a little better with other, more traditional forms of media–a bit like Nielsen partnering up with Facebook last month.

What Does This Mean to Ning Users?

Ning, which was founded in 2004 and has 100 employees will continue to function as a distinct entity, though some of its functionality will be integrated into Glam Media verticals. The details of that integration haven’t yet been worked out, but Ning’s CEO will join Glam as executive VP of social media and serve as General Manager of Ning. Ning’s co-founded, Marc Andreesen, will join Glam Media’s board of directors.

According to a Ning company blog post by Jason Rosenthal:

[quotes] “By combining Glam’s vision for brands with Ning’s leading position in creating custom social experiences, the two companies will change the way brands intersect with social, Glam + Ning will bring the context and relevancy that brands are looking for in the way they interact with audiences online.” [/quotes]

Glam Media has long been rumored to have an IPO in the works for fall, though Arora refuses to comment on that.