Buyout imminent for money-short Yippee

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

Publishing group IT Media is to acquire the assets of Auckland-based internet startup Yippee.

Neither side has been prepared to comment on the deal, but it is understood that IT Media will acquire the shareware software company in a share-only transaction.

Yippee chief executive Mark Stuart said the transaction was "not a done deal" but an announcement would be made this week.

Yippee was founded with the backing of several local investors who are understood to have spent at least $1 million on Yippee's website, which went live last May.

Yippee hoped its catalogue of more than 4000 shareware programs, available for download by internet users at no charge, would create an attractive audience for online advertisers.

However, revenue proved elusive.

A former employee told the Business Herald that most banner advertisements on Yippee's site were "traffic swaps" (where two sites agree to host each other's banners) and paid advertising revenue had been less than $20,000 last year.

Yippee was the first New Zealand business to benefit from a scheme by Hewlett-Packard to help internet startups, which made it eligible for up to $3.6 million worth of free computer equipment.Michael Foreman

Yippee