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Biggest Facebook App Acquisition Yet: TripAdvisor Reportedly Acquires Where I’ve Been for $3 Million (Update: TripAdvisor denies…)
August 16th, 2007
Update: TripAdvisor’s Brian Payea has responded: “This is untrue. Beyond that, we do not have any comment.” Payea would not specifically comment on whether acquisition hasn’t happened or simply that the reported price was inaccurate. Take it for what you will…but for now, though this is not a ridiculous price given the canvas page views and CPMs I would expect Where I’ve Been to be generating, it seems like the first big Facebook app acquisition is still yet to happen.
Just two months after asking, “I Have 250,000 Users, Now What?”, Craig Ulliott has an answer.
In what is by far the largest Facebook application acquisition to date, travel company TripAdvisor has reportedly acquired Where I’ve Been from Craig Ulliott for $3 million.
The acquisition marks the first major successful exit of a Facebook application since the Platform launched just under three months ago.
With 2.3 million users, Where I’ve Been established itself as by far the biggest travel application on Facebook, leading #2 Cities I’ve Visited (also TripAdvisor owned) by over 1 million users.
The $3 million price tag values Where I’ve Been users at about $1.30, or almost 30 times the 4.6 cents per user Slide paid for Favorite Peeps two months ago.
If confirmed, this acquisition marks a major step toward validating the value rapidly being created by Facebook platform developers. Many have questioned the liquidity of the Facebook application market beyond the $60k range that Slide paid to acquire Favorite Peeps.
“This means Facebook is a real platform,” said Naval Ravikant, founder of Hitforge, an investor in the Facebook platform.
“I do think he sold too early, but $3M is a great return for the amount of time he invested.”
Certainly! For a developer once unable to afford a server to handle his bustling app traffic, a $3M sale is sure to inspire additional development and investment in the Platform. Congratulations to Craig for hanging on and leading Where I’ve Been to a successful exit!
Technorati Tags: facebook, app, acquisition, whereivebeen, tripadvisor
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August 16th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
$1.30 per user seems a little overvalued for something which does not have a revenue stream. anyway how does hitforge, also a startup company pony up $3m to buy an app?
August 16th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
[...] true, TripAdvisor is paying $1.30 for each of the 2.3 million “users”, says InsideFacebook. We say users in a relative way, however, since these surely aren’t as valuable as the users [...]
August 16th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
[...] true, TripAdvisor is paying $1.30 for each of the 2.3 million “users”, says InsideFacebook. We say users in a relative way, however, since these surely aren’t as valuable as the users [...]
August 16th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
[...] Facebook Application Where I’ve Been has reportedly been sold to TripAdvisor for $3 million. [...]
August 16th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
[...] source [...]
August 16th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
[...] Facebook brings the news that Trip Advisor has reportedly bought the “Where I’ve Been” Facebook application for $3 Million. Where I’ve Been [...]
August 16th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
[...] Facebook notes that the $3 million purchase price values Where I’ve Been users at around $1.30 [...]
August 16th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
This is every Facebook app dev’s dream. Congrats to Craig!
August 16th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
I’m sorry but…what? Sold too early? Hell no. Take that money and run my man. Your little app is great but pretty easy to clone.
August 16th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
[...] it comes to widgets and Facebook apps, then Build-to-flip is really the only business model and the $3 million acquisition of Where I’ve Been by TripAdvisor is a wonderful example of [...]
August 16th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
[...] Facebook notes that the $3 million purchase price values Where I’ve Been users at around $1.30 [...]
August 16th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
so now i’m feeling even more solid about my remarks at AppDevCon yesterday on this subject. possible that lee lorenzen @ altura really does have the right model here.
certainly appears to be a great market for entrepreneurs & angels to make lots of bets, and use the customer acquisition arbitrage as a floor for any potential exit they might otherwise seek.
and if they just keep growing, then the ceiling is the moon
August 16th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Congratulations to Craig from Altura Ventures.
$1.30 per user is right in line with my post about Facebook apps being worth between $1.00 and $10.00 per user. As Naval pointed out at the App Dev Con, one type of liquidity event is when a Web 1.0 company realizes they need to jump into Facebook and either can’t waste time trying to build a #1 app in their category or can layer on a monetization strategy to an engaged set of users and make the acquisition almost instantly accretive.
The bottom line is app developers should be renting out their ad real estate to make enough money to have a nice lifestyle business and hold on for the bigger paydays to come.
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2392191727&topic=2824
Thanks,
Lee Lorenzen
August 16th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
(altho as i’ve said before, $-per-user is a pretty crappy metric to use for valuation, except perhaps as a floor… canvas page views or some other usage metric would be a lot better way to measure effectiveness)
August 16th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
It’s pretty cool to see that some consider facebook apps (or at least their userbase) valuable. And with a price of $1.30/user I think TripAdvisor made a good deal - it’s seems cheap for the travel business.
August 16th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
[...] August 15, 2007 - Biggest Facebook App Acquisition Yet: TripAdvisor Acquires Where I’ve Been for Reported $3 Million [...]
August 16th, 2007 at 11:36 pm
Fantastic stuff. The money will just continue to pour in as people see the absolutely massive return on investment you can get out of using Facebook to supply services and advertise.
Welcome to Stage II everybody!
August 16th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
[...] blush as Pete - it does seem insane especially compared to the 4 cents per user, as Inside Facebook notes, that Slide paid for the Favorite Peeps application 2 months (helping to set off the gold rush in [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 12:02 am
Pretty crazy on the surface or is it? As I discuss on my blog here (http://tinyurl.com/3yhkdx) - compared to other formers of customer acquisition or lead gen online $1.30 per user isn’t so insane.
August 17th, 2007 at 12:05 am
[...] 17, 2007 by Vinny Lingham Powered by Gregarious (21)Yup, it’s starting. Inside Facebook just reported that the “Where I’ve Been” Facebook app has been acquired, just 2 [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 12:11 am
[...] Where I’ve Been, an application built by an independent developer using Facebook’s developer platform, has been bought for $3 million by TripAdvisor, according to Facebook-focused blog InsideFacebook. [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 1:14 am
A great Deal. My hearty congratulations to craig
August 17th, 2007 at 1:15 am
[...] Inside Facebook has the scoop on TripAdvisor acquiring Where I’ve Been for a whopping $3 million. [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 1:59 am
[...] You’ll understand the other incentive for developers to create apps for the Facebook platform when you know that Favorite Peeps was recently bought for $60,000 and that Where I’ve Been has just been sold for a reported $3,000,000! [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 2:16 am
[...] Where I’ve been: Η πρώτη εφαρμογή για το Facebok που πουλήθηκε. Μετά από μόλις 3 μήνες λειτουργίας και 250.000 χρήστες, την αγόρασαν για 3 εκ. δολ. - Θα είναι το SYNC Blogs Facebook app η επόμενη? [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 2:58 am
[...] Inside Facebook » Biggest Facebook App Acquisition Yet: TripAdvisor Reportedly Acquires Where IR… In what is by far the largest Facebook application acquisition to date, travel company TripAdvisor has reportedly acquired Where I’ve Been from Craig Ulliott for $3 million. [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 4:25 am
[...] evidence of Facebook Fever is TripAdvisor’s $3-million reported purchase of Where I’ve Been - the largest acquisition (so far!) of a Facebook application. Where I’ve Been is the biggest [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 4:38 am
[...] top of the week, the latest Facebook rumor has TripAdvisor buying third-party Facebook Platform application Where I&#… for $3 [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 4:54 am
[...] clipped from http://www.insidefacebook.com [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 5:22 am
[...] Facebook notes that the $3 million purchase price values Where I’ve Been users at around $1.30 [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 6:28 am
Cash or stock…..if stock, public or private? Private stock valuations are almost worthless at evaluating value. Now, if this is a cash deal, then wow.
August 17th, 2007 at 7:35 am
[...] Inside Facebook is reporting TripAdvisor has shelled out $3 million for the Facebook application “Where I’ve Been.” [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 7:43 am
This is the very definition of “irrational exuberance.” Where exactly is the revenue stream? More poo-pooing on my blog. mikekowieski.typepad.com
August 17th, 2007 at 8:51 am
[...] chapter in the Facebook bubble, Trip Advisor buys ‘Where I’ve been for 3 million. That’s right, 3 mil for a simple application hosted within Facebook and you thought hockey [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 8:55 am
[...] the crap?! The Where I’ve Been Facebook application was bought for $3 million USD???!!! [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 10:28 am
[...] and the resulting deluge of new applications has been a mixed bag. One developer hit the jackpot though. The ‘Where I’ve Been’ application was purchased for $3 million by a travel [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 10:47 am
This was just a complete rumor:
“Ouch, here’s a zinger: contrary to reports, travel site TripAdvisor apparently did not purchase the Facebook Platform application Where I’ve Been for $3 million. The news was originally reported on Inside Facebook on Thursday night.
A statement from a TripAdvisor representative read, “This is untrue. Beyond that, we do not have any comment.”
http://news.com.com/8301-13577_3-9761584-36.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=TheSocial
August 17th, 2007 at 11:38 am
[...] news can last only soo long. Early morning today news was swirling around that TripAdvisor has acquired Facebook application Where I?ve Been for $3 million. Even [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 11:52 am
[...] application called Mobile Poke (isn’t everyone building these things now.) Seeing as how my old company bought a facebook app for 3 million today, it isn’t a bad niche to be in right now. The application allows you to send text and picture [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
[...] A Facebook application, “Where I’ve Been,” reportedly sells to TripAdvisor, a division of online travel agency Expedia, for $3 million. This proves the strength of Facebook’s so-called “platform” as a vehicle for flipping cheap, trivial ideas to gullible big companies, something everyone in the Valley has been longing for. Update: TripAdvisor is denying some or all of the report, dashing everyone’s dreams of Facebook-app millions. [Inside Facebook] [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
[...] TripAdvisor Reportedly Acquires Where I’ve Been for $3 Million “The acquisition marks the first major successful exit of a Facebook application since the Platform launched just under three months ago.” (tags: facebook acquisition business applications economics Maps application entrepreneurship blog online social travel ideas community) [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
[...] arguably one of the hottest properties on the net, must be thrilled by the news that TripAdvisor just spent $3 million on one of the social network’s apps - Where I’ve Been. TripAdvisor is denying the [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
There have been some rumors in the market that we have sold our business. These rumors are not true. Our future development plans, combined with our robust community of users, current growth rates, and the attractiveness of the travel vertical, have led to a number of strategic discussions with potential partners/acquirers, but we have not agreed to any deals and we are committed to building Where I’ve Been into a sustainable and profitable standalone business. We are, however, exploring all avenues to maximize the value and usefulness of our product for our user base and we expect to announce new product features/enhancements, from both internal development and through strategic business partnerships, in the weeks and months ahead.
Many thanks for your interest in our company. – The WIB Team.
August 17th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
[...] developer, Craig Ulliott, from Philadelphia instantly became the new widget-wunderkind when it was rumored that TripAdvisor had acquired his “Where I’ve Been” Facebook application for a [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Not. Didn’t happen.
August 17th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
[...] Biggest Facebook App Acquisition Yet: TripAdvisor Reportedly Acquires Where I’ve Been for $3 Milli… [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
[...] Facebook notes that the $3 million purchase price values Where I’ve Been users at around $1.30 [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
[...] Biggest Facebook App Acquisition Yet: TripAdvisor Reportedly Acquires Where I’ve Been for $3 M… (tags: facebook social_network,) [...]
August 18th, 2007 at 1:36 am
Congratulations to Where I’ve been, Craig, his partners and TripAdvisor. If all is true of course, does anybody know?
August 18th, 2007 at 2:07 am
[...] it’s true. The Where I’ve Been facebook app was purchased by TripAdvisor for 3 million dollars!! Not bad turn around for an app that’s two month old. Ironically, three weeks before the [...]
August 18th, 2007 at 8:08 am
[...] the rumor, which first appeared on Inside Facebook, isn’t completely accurate. TechCrunch reports that [...]
August 18th, 2007 at 11:27 am
[...] Inside Facebook » Biggest Facebook App Acquisition Yet “See Mom, screwing with Facebook all day CAN make money!” (tags: facebook socialnetworking API) [...]
August 18th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
[...] Facebook notes that the $3 million purchase price values Where I’ve Been users at around $1.30 [...]
August 18th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
[...] true, TripAdvisor is paying $1.30 for each of the 2.3 million “users”, says InsideFacebook. We say users in a relative way, however, since these surely aren’t as valuable as the users [...]
August 19th, 2007 at 7:49 am
$1.30 probably sounds fine but is everyone really a ‘customer’?
but looks like this is no news actually…
August 19th, 2007 at 9:08 am
[...] was a flurry of excitement amongst Facebook watchers at the end of last week following a post on the Inside Facebook blog on Thursday, announcing “the first major successful exit of a Facebook application since the [...]
August 19th, 2007 at 9:38 am
[...] last week, InsideFacebook reported that the Facebook App, TripAdvisor was sold for US$3m. Apparently that was just a rumor. Brian Payea from TripAdvisor then left a comment at the post [...]
August 22nd, 2007 at 3:54 am
[...] on a map cities and countries one’s visited. This mini-widget had over 2.3 million users, and has now been acquired by Trip Advisor, an online travel brand, by 3 million dollars. This just goes to show that small can be something [...]
August 22nd, 2007 at 7:13 am
[...] lots of really neat applications that I enjoy. One “place’s that I have been” was actually sold to Trip Advisor for three million dollars. I bet it was the work of one person. Maybe Facebook [...]
August 22nd, 2007 at 7:50 am
[...] August 22, 2007 Inside Facebook » Biggest Facebook App Acquisition Yet: TripAdvisor Reportedly Acquires Where IR… [...]
August 24th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Such valid points. Thanks for your comments.
August 27th, 2007 at 1:47 am
[...] da Craig Ulliott, per 3 milioni di dollari. La notizia, lanciata dal solitamente ben informato Inside Facebook, aveva destato molto scalpore e molti commenti nella [...]
August 28th, 2007 at 9:21 am
[...] a lot of buzz. Don’t be surprised if all this attention results in a big sale soon. See what inside facebook has to say about [...]
August 28th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
[...] true, TripAdvisor is paying $1.30 for each of the 2.3 million “users”, says InsideFacebook. We say users in a relative way, however, since these surely aren’t as valuable as the users [...]
August 30th, 2007 at 11:34 am
[...] of Facebook. Others are getting excited by the “Brand New Platform” concept too - I heard that TripAdvisor bought the “Where I’ve Been” application for $3 [...]
August 31st, 2007 at 6:22 am
[...] have become a bit of a commodity. In fact, Inside Facebook reports that TripAdvisor.com has just paid $3 million to the “Where I’ve Been” Facebook application. That is, by far, the largest such [...]
September 9th, 2007 at 5:03 am
[...] month it was rumored that TripAdvisor had purchased Where I’ve Been for $3 million, which would have been the [...]
September 9th, 2007 at 6:38 am
[...] heard of applications becoming targeted, with one (rumoured) for $3 million - and it has proved applications are an excellent way to acquire users and generate leads to your [...]
September 16th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
[...] and you can easily have a chain reaction. A travel-related Facebook application, for instance, was recently speculated as the biggest Facebook application acquisition to date at an estimated $3 [...]
September 21st, 2007 at 8:42 am
[...] Inside Facebook » Biggest Facebook App Acquisition Yet: TripAdvisor Reportedly Acquires Where IR… (tags: facebook applications acquisition economics Maps business) [...]
October 4th, 2007 at 10:05 am
[...] TripAdvisor Acquires Facebook App for $3 million INSIDE FACEBOOK TripAdvisor is acquiring ‘Where I’ve Been’, an application built for the Facebook platform, from its developer Craig Ulliott for USD3m in what is thought to be the largest amount paid for a Facebook application. The application, which is the biggest travel app on Facebook with 2.3m users, is a world map that sits on Facebook users’ profiles, showing other users where the user has been around the globe. In the past three months following Facebook’s decision to open up its platform to developers, a number of Facebook applications have been bought. In Jul, Mozes acquired TextMe, a messaging app, and two months ago Slide acquired Favorite Peeps for USD60,000. Source> [...]
October 17th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
[...] has acquired the Facebook LDS App from my Social Apps incubator, Snaplicate. This is one of the first few apps to be sold on Facebook, so this is big news! Today we signed the final document and the [...]
October 18th, 2007 at 8:23 am
Ok - so Craig was struggling to pay the bills, then months later sold for $3MM to TripAdvisor. My question is how he connect with TripAdvisor to make the sale? Surely he didn’t just pick up the phone and chat a $3Million deal?
Anyone know who’s the middle man which set up the deal?
December 9th, 2007 at 6:34 am
[...] month it was rumored that TripAdvisor had purchased Where I’ve Been for $3 million, which would have been the [...]
January 15th, 2008 at 1:06 am
[...] add money do they think they will generate? certainly not enough to build a real business from. The largest Facebook [exit] to date was about $3m by TripAdvisor for “where I’ve been” app, probably well paid [...]
January 19th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
[...] Biggest Facebook App Acquisition Yet - The popular Facebook application, Where I’ve Been, was bought by TripAdvisor for $3 million [...]
February 29th, 2008 at 5:19 am
[...] a three months old Facebook application was sold for $3 million. This news was denied yesterday on Inside Facebook by the assumed buyer, TripAdvisor. But the fact that many analysts saw the application as not [...]
May 28th, 2008 at 8:32 am
[...] for 3 million. The acquisition marks the first major successful exit of a Facebook applicationhttp://www.insidefacebook.com/2007/08/16/biggest-facebook-app-acquisition-yet-tripadvisor-acquires-w…Chicago Tourism - Chicago Vacation Reviews - Chicago Vacations …Chicago vacations: Visit [...]