Weblogging Software Leader Six Apart Acquires LiveJournal

Six Apart, makers of the highly acclaimed Movable Type publishing platform and TypePad personal weblogging service, today announced that it has acquired Danga Interactive, Inc., the operators of the popular service LiveJournal, for an undisclosed amount of stock and cash. With the acquisition, Six Apart solidifies its position as the industry's recognized leader in weblogging software across all markets, and LiveJournal can continue its rapid growth trajectory under Six Apart's umbrella. As of today, the combined user base of both companies exceeds 6.5 million users, with thousands more added daily.

LiveJournal, an online community organized around personal journals, is run by Danga, a Portland, Oregon-based company founded by Brad Fitzpatrick in 1999. LiveJournal has helped fuel the rapid growth of weblogging by offering consumers both free and paid subscriptions to its easy to use personal publishing blogging tool, built on open source software. Every week, over 860,000 users update their blogs. LiveJournal's users are predominately in their teens and twenties, younger than users of Six Apart's other products.

As part of Six Apart, LiveJournal will continue to operate as a separate division and will continue to foster an active community around the globe. Brad Fitzpatrick, Danga's founder, president and lead developer, will join Six Apart as the company's chief architect, extending his proven skills in scaling large services to the rest of Six Apart's products. The Danga staff will remain dedicated to LiveJournal and Six Apart expects the staff to grow as it invests in the service. LiveJournal will continue to distribute a large portion of its software under various open source licenses. Six Apart intends to invest in the LiveJournal software, which will remain separate from Six Apart's Movable Type and TypePad products, with dedicated engineering and support teams for each product.

"Six Apart's business -- and only business -- is weblogging software and services," said Barak Berkowitz, Six Apart's chief executive officer. "We are driven to provide the best quality weblogging tools on the planet, to the broadest number of users, and our acquisition of LiveJournal reflects this passion.

"We are now the only company to offer the full range of weblogging tools to the market," he said. "We have a service intended for individuals to interact with family and friends through LiveJournal; a hosted service for avid webloggers who want more flexibility and power with TypePad; and the leading server-based solution for power users, corporations and institutions through Movable Type. We welcome LiveJournal users to the Six Apart family, and promise to keep the LiveJournal culture and quality which has earned their devotion."

Berkowitz said the acquisition of LiveJournal makes Six Apart the industry's largest independent provider of weblogging tools and that the company is committed to continued innovation on each of its product lines to meet the needs of a growing number of webloggers. According to a survey released this week by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, over 8 million U.S adults now have weblogs and blog readership jumped by 58% in 2004.

"We're extremely pleased to have Brad and his team join Six Apart," said Mena Trott, Six Apart's co-founder and president. "Not only does LiveJournal have roots similar to Six Apart's -- both companies founded by young hobbyists with a passion for weblogging -- but Danga also understood the importance of community and communication before anyone else. LiveJournal has been one of the most innovative services for many years and we're proud to be able to join forces."

"It's a natural fit for LiveJournal to become part of Six Apart," said Brad Fitzpatrick. "Both companies are fanatics about weblogging, both have great relationships with their users and both have cultures driven to create the very best products. I'm excited that the acquisition will let us keep growing at an incredible speed -- backed by an experienced management team and the international reach of Six Apart."

About Six Apart Ltd.
Six Apart Ltd., based in San Francisco, CA, is the company behind the Movable Type publishing platform and the TypePad personal weblogging service. Founded by husband and wife team Ben Trott and Mena G. Trott in 2002 and funded by Neoteny Co., Ltd. and August Capital, Six Apart's sole focus is to create tools that enable millions of individuals, organizations and corporations to participate in the Web's full potential by publishing their ideas on the Internet with simple, yet powerful software and services. For more information about Six Apart, TypePad, Movable Type and LiveJournal visit the Six Apart corporate weblog at www.sixapart.com.

Contact:
Krause Taylor Associates for Six Apart
Jane Anderson
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