Klout Acquired by Lithium Technologies for a Rumored $200 Million
posted Sunday Mar 30, 2014 by Nicholas DiMeo
In 2008, a company with a mission to measure social engagement and influence came together to form Klout. This week it was announced that the increasingly-popular tool had been acquired by Lithium Technologies.
In a stock deal rumored to be close to $200 million, Klout's CEO Joe Fernandez will enter the Lithium team as a senior vice president and manager of Klout. In turn, Lithium purchased the measuring software to enhance its own services. For those unaware, Lithium is an all-encompassing CRM and social platform that ties in engagement, sales, customer retention and loyalty, branding, SEO and crowd-sourcing all in one place. Think Salesforce.com or Jive Software, but with an increased focus on usability and genuine customers. It's an interesting platform for sure, and one that I've not had too much familiarity with, however companies like Virgin Atlantic and Barclay's have both seen dramatic results from using the service.
In the announcement of the news, Lithium's president and CEO Rob Tarkoff explained how everything would come together.
(The acquisition) brings together the 100 million consumers who engage across Lithium communities every month with the 500 million consumers touched by Klout to establish one of the biggest data footprints of consumer attitudes, preferences and activities. Lithium and Klout both have deep expertise and capabilities in driving engagement - combined, our ability to put trust back at the center of the relationship between consumers and brands is unmatched. The new Lithium brings together trusted people and trusted content to create an exchange of shared value and a more complete measure of reputation. Most importantly - and what really fires me up - is that this acquisition helps Lithium put the power back into consumers' hands in a real way that delivers real benefits to consumers as well as brands. The conversation between consumers and brands should be just that: a conversation, not a shout by brands at consumers. That's the promise the new Lithium will deliver on.
So it seems like Lithium is wanting to bring a sense of realness to its service and by using Klout's highly-touted measurement system, it could probably do just that, as Klout is kind of a crucial link between a consumer and a company. Lithium did say there would be more to discuss on the Klout acquisition at its LiNC 2014 conference.
For Klout, the team says that its "mission has not changed" and Klout will "continue helping people be great online."
You will still be able to get insights about your social media performance, find new content to share, and be rewarded with Perks on both Klout.com and our mobile app.
We'll keep tabs on exactly how Klout will be implemented into Lithium's offerings. Until then, I will continue to peruse Klout to see what's going to change before and after the acquisition process.