AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

The Wall Street Journal

Comcast Corp. said on Wednesday that it will acquire networking Web site Plaxo, in an effort by the cable operator to broaden its range of services.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Plaxo, a closely held company based in Mountain View, Calif., offers technology that helps users more easily share contact information and media such as photos or personal Web-site information.

The two companies have been working together in a partnership for about a year, and Plaxo currently hosts all the accounts for Comcast Webmail service. Comcast hopes to use Plaxo to offer new services to its 26 million subscribers. Comcast customers, for example, may be able to share photos across their PCs, TVs, and phones by using the service, says Samuel Schwartz, head of Comcast Interactive Media. “People have a lot more choices these days with regard to devices,” he said.

Plaxo’s services could also be combined with Comcast’s Fancast Internet video service to allow users to access TV shows and movies from Comcast’s library more easily.

For Plaxo, being part of Comcast will allow the company to expand beyond its current base of tech-savvy users, says Ben Golub, chief executive of Plaxo, which says it currently has 50 million accounts.

“Together, we intend to deliver on a vision of making ’social media’ a natural part of the lives of regular people, not just early-adopters,” Plaxo said on its Web site in reference to the announcement.

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