Classmates Media was one of the first social networks to become popular on the Internet. But Classmates is known for being especially aggressive with its constant pop-up ads. On Monday, Classmates announced that it filing for an IPO.
Classmates is owned by United Online Inc, which will maintain control of the company. Classmates intends to use the money from the IPO to pay back expenses to UOL. And Classmates plans to use the additional capital for growth.
Classmates currently has about 8.4 million registered members, who generally provide the name of the elementary school, middle school, high school, and colleges that they have attended. This way if there is an upcoming 5-, 10-, 15-, etc. year reunion class reunion, those members could be notified.
It was a pretty simple idea, but a great concept. And I believe that a lot of today’s newest social networks were inspired by Classmates.
Goldman, Sachs & Co., along with Deutsche Bank Securities and JPMorgan will be underwriting the offering and Classmates will trade under the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “CLAS.”
