The rumour, published by the Australian Financial Review, comes just weeks after Packer-backed firm Ellerston Capital invested in online department store Deals Direct, reportedly purchasing a third of the business for $10 million.
An announcement is expected within days.
If the deal goes ahead, it would value Catch of the Day at $200 million and would match the investment Yahoo!7 poured into group buying site Spreets earlier this year.
Catch of the Day's Gabby Leibovich declined to comment when contacted by SmartCompany this morning.
Catch, which was founded in 2006 by Gabby and his brother Hezi and featured in the 2009 Smart50 awards, is currently turning over about $100 million, although Leibovich has not revealed how much profit the company is making. It is one of Australia’s largest online retailers and sells thousands of goods every day.
Last year it expanded through opening Scoopon, one of the first group buying sites. It is now one of the largest and accounts for much of the industry’s revenue, gaining notoriety as a result – the Scoopon iPhone app has been featured in an official Apple advertisement.
But Packer’s investment would come during a tumultuous period for the company. Catch of the Day is currently wrapped up in a legal battle against group buying giant Groupon, which claims the Australian company has misled users after it registered the Groupon trademark and Groupon.com.au domain.
However, the move is also timely – Telsyte analyst Sam Yip told SmartCompany recently he believed Scoopon would be a target for acquirers.
"I think that acquisition is still on the books, especially as Groupon and Scoopon are facing off in a court battle together. We're at the point now where winning small players won't get you to number one, and Scoopon seems to be the last target,” he said.
The rumoured move also comes after a number of Australian tech companies have attracted significant investment interest from overseas. Within the past year Silicon Valley firm Accel Partners has invested in Atlassian, OzForex and 99Designs, while this past week Electronic Arts purchased Melbourne game studio Firemint.
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written by Robert McIntosh, May 09, 2011
"
and Scoopon seems to be the last target,
"
theres another target AND its the biggest target of them all, mark my words
its "the name/industry name/single word generic domain name" for coupons in Australia, coupons.com.au
a truely rare commodity, with a NATURAL BRANDING ADVANTAGE that will increase results on a/ every marketing campaign, b/ converting traffic to new memberships/sales and c/ for return visits and viral marketing. the increased results will COMPOUND over time and mean the difference of millions of dollars in an industry perfect for the internet
and when you consider Myer recently spent $300 million renovating their Melbourne store,
you can start to see what will happen to the value of the number one domain name/address
on the internet for coupons when corporate Australia inevitably moves on to the internet
mentally as well as physically
here is a must see video and further information about single word generic domain names http://coupons.com.au/aboutus/ourdomain
written by Robert McIntosh, May 09, 2011
im not saying you cant succeed without an industry domain name, but you wont be sailing with the wind behind you
like you will with an industry domain name, which will compound over time and mean the difference of
millions of dollars
plus there is no commonly known industry domain name for these two web models other than what has been made up in the last few
years by the industry, for example "deal of the day" would be the industry name for catchoftheday and "group buying site"
would be the industry name for scoopon, but they are not household industry names
where as everybody could tell you want coupons are, you print them, take them to the supplier and get a discount,
simple
they could of used dailydeals.com.au, but for what website?
because there is no exact industry match for the term "daily deals" or even "deals" when we're talking about premium industry
domain names. that’s why industry domain names are in such high demand in markets that understand the internet
runs on keywords, its pure target marketing
note: deal of the day, group buying and coupons all share 1 thing in common, which is to save members money,
but they are 3 different markets with coupons being the purest of all
We're at the point now where winning small players won't get you to number one, and Scoopon seems to be the last target,
”
to the naked eye ..
but not all industries and domain names are the same, which means they cant all be measured under the same umbrella. EG people put a blanket statement over market share, "got to get in quick before its too late", and of course theres a lot of truth to that. BUT there are some industries where that doesn’t automatically apply, and theyre industries which can be changed over the course of 12 > 24 months with a new idea, a large database and/or traffic source, and it would catch the so called establishment off guard who didnt know it was happening until it was too late (examples include hotels.com, cars.com, and flowers.com are all market leaders in their space with websites built off the back of single word generic domain names, while some of the old dinosaurs were asleep at the wheel. companies such as the Marriott, Ford and Interflora who failed to buy or partner with their industry domain name, blew a unique opportunity in time.
EG the coupons industry in Australia is wide open (note: im talking about a coupons website, not a group buying or daily deal site). a company can enter this market at any time and change the landscape, that’s right at any time. BUT the longer they leave it, the harder it becomes which means they better have something UNIQUE, something that stands out above the rest, something that attracts more traffic on every marketing campaign, something that converts more traffic to members and sales, something that more people will remember for return visits and viral marketing, something that positions them as the industry expert, something that achieves greater results for every person that hears about it and visits the site, something that COMPOUNDS over time at a greater rate than any of its competitors because of these advantages,
AND not only does this opportunity exist in Australia, there is an un tapped market begging to be mined
its called coupons.com.au, a user generated coupons site with lessons learnt from the group buying sites
its developed (plug in traffic and play), its got proof of concept, and a patent pending payment system which makes user generated coupons commercially viable because it eliminates fraud and refund issues
all it needs now is a traffic partner to realise the power of the number one brand name for coupons in Australia, coupons.com.au, just add content and traffic to it and its another realestate.com.au or carsales.com.au in the making