Classmates Website Planning IPO as Social Networks Rise

Posted on August 18, 2007

ZDNet's Between the Lines is blogging about a possible IPO from a Classmates, a web service that helps people get in touch with former friends, schoolmates and coworkers.

If you are thinking how can this company file an IPO with all the competition from free social networks like Facebook and MySpace you are right and the company is aware of the problem. ZDNet found this nugget in the company's SEC filing.

Our social networking services compete with a wide variety of social networking Web sites, including broad social networking Web sites such as MySpace and Facebook; a number of specialty Web sites, including LinkedIn, Reunion.com and Monster.com's Military.com service, that offer similar online social networking services based on school, work or military communities; and an increasing number of schools, employers and associations that maintain their own Internet-based alumni information services.
Between the Lines says Classmates could be trying to "front run some buzz ahead of social media peers such as Facebook and LinkedIn." That may explain the rush to an IPO. It will be interesting if any of the big social networks follow along behind them. Classmates does have something the newer social networks do not and that's 2.7 million paid accounts. That really stands out when all the other companies have advertising-only business models.

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