Plaxo & Comcast: I Don't Get It

Plaxo, having been on the block for a while according to rumors, is acquired by Comcast.  TechCrunch puts the price at $150m-ish.  I think it's a loser in the long run.

I don't mean this financially.  I have not seen any figures on Plaxo but I presume the Comcast team considered many scenarios.  They may end up very happy with the accretive value they receive.  I mean the deal makes little sense to me strategically.

Comcast is a pipe owner.  Its competitive advantage lies in the old economy.  Access will continue to get commoditized.

Plaxo is not a true social media company.  It has the wrong DNA:  It grew through spamming.  It may have lots of data but it has little engagement or passion.  I find Pulse totally useless.  It know almost nothing about the context in which i am connected to others through its system.  It's the anti-Facebook.

I commend Comcast on the boldness and vision.  But they picked the wrong company.  I suspect it will try to offer Plaxo's quasi-social graph to its subscribers or lay it over its media properties and affiliations.  Well meant, but it will not work.  I think Plaxo's recent signals of openness, like its participation in Open Social, were decoys and PR moves.  They remain closed in their DNA.

It looks like RWW agrees with me on this, and others don't.

Comments

[Honor Gunday]

Comcast is not just a pipe though, they are also content and with the emergence of content on demand, tivo etc... the boundaries between Internet and TV are becoming blurry, so I think we'll see Comcast emerge as more of a content player.
Check out http://www.mojohd.com/
it's a TV channel they own with heavy web presence.