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Gator Files for IPO to Raise $150 Million
michalas writes "Wired reports on the IPO filing of adware/spyware kings Claria who have recently changed their name from Gator.
Claria on Thursday filed for an initial public offering to raise $150 million to continue developing its 'behavioral marketing platform.' Claria had a net income of $35 million on revenues of $90 million in 2003. In addition, Claria said it has 43 million active users and 425 advertisers."
Yea, the only way I'd buy this stock is if my static ip address is blacklisted by their crapware so that it won't/can't install itself on my systems. Surely an incentive like that would entice people to buy into this IPO.
Of course, then they'll have their money for development except by that time every person with a computer will have purchased a share of stock to keep that crap off their system...in which case there would be no reason for them to continue development of the software, and really have no reason for them to continue to exist as a company.
Heck, where do I sign up for that?
I remember seeing a comment earlier about how Microsoft buys up companies and shuts them down or kills off the technology. Maybe MSFT could do us all a favor, buy them out, and shut them down? It's probably one of the few humane things to do...
Is a special transmitter that sends back information on where you place it.
Cost of privacy = 150,000,000 / Claria's victims
Our greatest enemy is neither a single man, nor is it a nation, it is, as it has always been, our own greed.
Suckers. Big-time suckers.
They only deserve to lose their money.
They are now Claria, that is so much less predatory than Gator. They were just misunderstood.
" 43 million active users " Those are not users, they are called "victims"
In addition, Claria said it has 43 million active users and 425 advertisers.
I think 'infected computers' would be more likely. Whenever I tell people I can make those pop-ups stop by running Ad-aware, they are more than happy to remove themselves from this list of 'active users.'
Claria said it has 43 million active users
...of those 43 million "active users" only three are actually aware that they are running Claria's "product".
Of which 7 know they are.
What a coincidence, as I'm starting an IPO shortly, too! We're hoping to raise $150 million, which will be metered out as payment for the head of each Claira investor.
DRM = Digitally Restricted Media. This is a viral sig, pass it on.
The good thing about Gator going public is that their Financial Statements will tell us what advertisers are funding them. Makes for a nice boycott list.
I wonder how many of their 40mil+ users actually know that they're an 'active' user?
Here's what they're saying about Gator stock:
"I love the way Gator takes my money and saves it for a rainey day!"
"Gator stock is so stable, I can't imagine investing with out it!"
"I love the way my income depends on Gator stock it make me feel secure!"
||| I still can't believe Parkay's not butter.
Claria who have recently changed their name from Gator.
Nice name. But, a frosted dog turd is not a wedding cake; it is still a frosted dog turd. I hope whatever stock they have drops like a brick.
The coolest voice ever.
Does anyone know where to get a list of the 425 advertisers, so I know which companies to avoid?
Napster was a dead company walking from a legal perspective from day one. Nobody was that surprised when it got shutdown. However, it was able to float an IPO...
Sometimes, crime does pay. Even if Gator is made illegal by state laws, they'll still be functioning until such laws are enforced. Simply passing a law won't make them go away.
Anybody got a current quote for what SCOX is going for while we're at it?
Also, Claria said their certificates represent "the latest in investor-tracking technology." Claria's executives plan to use the small audio monitoring devices embedded in each certificate to learn valuable insider information about upcoming shifts in the stock market. "This represents a new direction in the stock market. Never before have companies used their stock certificates as a way to gather valuable investor information," said Claria's CEO in a press release today extolling the virtues of Claria's new business venture.
Addressing privacy concerns, he also mentioned that, "Anyone buying this stock knows exactly what they're getting into. We fully disclose all information about our monitoring technologies to anyone who bothers to break into our company's vault and read the encrypted data therein. Anyone who claims they were misled about privacy simply hasn't done the proper espionage expected of both parties entering into any contract. After all, if you don't catch us spying on you, it's your fault."
That's it. I'm no longer part of Team Sanity.
The selection of the name "Claria" is a study how to avoid a mucked-up name... pick a made up word that has the seems to have the a tie to the words that represent what you wish you weren't so bad at.
People think you can't keep your promises? Call yourself Verizon or Verisign... "Vari-" meaning "truth"
You're stuck in the drug business trying to make people get high? Call yourself Altria... "alt-" meaning high
People confused about complex multiple rate plan options? Call yourself Cingular... kinda sounds like "singular" where there's only one option.
You're main product requires confusing people into aceptng it to work? Call yourself Claria... even though there's nothing clear to users about what they're getting themselves into.
Gator has 43 million users in the same way that 43 million people actively have the common cold. They have no control over how they got it, can't do anything about it, and don't notice that it's been gestating until they start sneezing bright flashy ads. It's that sort of misrepresentation that makes me want to work in the department of Statistics and Information Synthesis.
At any rate, how can someone "use" Gator/Claria? Their "users" are simply presented with ads and such. Are you a "user" of the ads you see on Television? No. You are an audience member, and a very passive one at that. Amazing. Simply amazing.
Despite what the company does, after interviewing with them, I felt like it would be a good solid company to work for. They had a great dot-com atmosphere, used open source technology, and paid well - my position was for Perl programmer. And they even allowed you to work from home. I didn't have the XML::Parser experience they were looking for, so I didn't get the job. One thing they revealed to me was that they did actually track what you were searching in Google. This part I didn't like. If they can watch you on Google, they can capture data from any form you fill out - although they claimed Google was the only form they captured data from.
It's All Politics
Not to sound extreme here but lots of spyware can cause a system to act just like its infected with virii and cause it be unfunctional.
I have seen it first hand.
My gf's pc and at work where I assist students in a university computer lab.
My gf's computer use to take 20 minutes to boot and would reboot every 30 minutes or so and was highly unresponsive. Especially IE.
McAfee anti virus showed no viruses? I then ran ad-aware and it found 600 objects and tons and tons of spyware.
After that it was fine.
Second, spyware installs backdoors( tell me that does not sound like a worm)so hackers can see your keystrokes and get things like credit card numbers, etc. God forbid anyone doing the taxes with these worms aka spyware ridden systems. Hackers can easily do identity theft.
So I ask slashdotters now. Why is gatorsoft legal? If this thing was called A.mydoom or something the FBI would hound them.
THis is pure fraud, it steals computer cycles, causes break-ins, etc. Its a worm in my book. It may not copy itself to other systems but it sure acts like one. Hmmm I bet if gator soft did email itself over the address book then it could get even MORE customers. lol
This and Divx need to be brought down.
http://saveie6.com/
That would be like Hepatitis C Inc., boasting about their 500 million customers. This reminds me of Mel Brook's radio skit about the LMNOP Advertising Agency: "We just got the Cholesterol account. We're trying to move Cholesterol into the American heart. It's going to be tough, but we'll win. Advertising is a lot stronger than life."
If someone buys enough shares of Gator, or Claria as they're now calling themselves, could they force the company to shut down? Sure, that would hurt your wallet but it sure would make a lot of people happy.
Calling the Gator software GAIN was just an attempt to try to associate themselves with a clean, fresh scent.
For someone with more time on their hands than me:
1)Start some media fear mongering about a "Claria Virus".
2)Include instructions for removing said virus.
3)Feel good about what you have done to help society.
Let's take that philosophy one step further ... so you'd support a company that sold a product that caused Cancer or AIDS as long as you didn't use that product? Nice to see you've got principles.
In my opinion, after spending 2 hours removing spyware from a friend's computer, Gator's products are no more than viruses.
Which leads me to my point.... why doesn't Symantec (Norton) classify Gator as a virus. It has all the hallmarks of a virus (hell... Blaster was LESS destructive. It just rebooted your machine), and no legitimate use. How isn't it a virus?? Just because the company's legit at the moment, does it really make it okay?
Can anyone answer me?
-- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
43 million active users... How many are unwilling or unaware victims? I've never met anyone who had gator on their computer know what it was or want it installed. That doesn't sound like being an "active user" to me, more like virtual date-rape victims than anything else.
Yeah. Gator. It's Spam. But from the standpoint of an investor, it's probably a great investment. Remember, Wall Street is about money not social good or bad. This is part of a more complex and disturbing trend of a total conversion of the Internet from a tool of the masses for usful communication, to a commercial product. And, it's an example of how western nations, especially the United States, think that they "own" the internet. This is why I support the idea of taking the Internet away from ICANN, and placing it under UN juristiction.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
Pump up the stock price based on nice big numbers ("43 million active users and 425 advertisers") that lead the unwary/uninformed to assume that this company has specialized capabilities that can be the beginning of the next Internet boom; the executives and investment backers incrementally cash out while stories about the sure thing are dribbled to the media to keep the stock price up. Groklaw discusses the SCO strategy in greater detail.
I hope no one buys their stock.
Man, someone needs to go Steve Irwin on that gator's ass...
You can't take the sky from me...
Claria take their name from Chlamydia, a common sexually transmitted infection that many people do not know they carry. Someone in the advertising/PR department must have had a bit of fun with that one ;)
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
Claria said it has 43 million active users and 425 advertisers
Er, no. Try again. How about:
Claria said it has 43 million active victims and 425 parasites
Partial list of advertisers, courtesy of Harvard
News story on Harvard wrestling with the then Gator corp
I know most people here are laughing at the thought of anyone stupid enough to buy into this IPO. But all it takes are a few ignorant or greedy fund managers to pump this stock. This is why I generally invest in blue-chip stocks or market index mutual funds over standard funds, which these days seem to be corrupt.
I think there's maybe six or seven financial investment companies that haven't been sanctioned by the SEC in the last two years for unethical activity. You can't trust the American media to even let you know when your investment company has been fined $200M for insider trading. The best source for really finding out how sleazy Wall Street is is through England's Financial Times, which doesn't pull any punches. If you have an IRA or any money in funds, keep a close eye on it. These rich fund managers are making a fortune off the pennies most working people scrounge up and think will be there for them in the future.
I never really dabbled much in the market until recently when I had a broker "friend" make recommendations for me. After I lost a bundle, I set up my own account on E*Trade and started doing my own investing - I beat my broker's ROI by 14% within six months. I'm pretty convinced these days most people in the financial community don't know anything, but that doesn't mean a bunch of people won't make money in this Gator IPO, but it will probably be at mutual fund holders' expense.
My advice to people is take control of your finances and invest in companies you believe in. Pull your money out of funds so you're not unwittingly financing SCO or Gator -- you'd be surprised how often you're in bed with the devil through your IRA.
They are annoying, but I think they HAVE stopped being sneaky with their 3rd party stuff
Yes, and I have a bridge that I want to sell you.
Gator still does deceptive "drive-by-downloads", and people still unkowingly get infected with their crapware
Sorry/Claria/they will always be gator to me.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
that the company now has $150 million that can be targeted by the enterprising trial lawyers. Let the litigation begin!
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
In a follow-up to this story, after Gator announced it will change its name to Claria, Spyware changed its name to Gator citing brand recognition and popularity as primary reasons....
What sort of setups do the admins out there have for blocking this stuff? Anything at the gateway or proxy level??
For a long time, I have been using a lot of off-the-shelf scripts and utilities hacked together as an anti-spyware, anti-virus proxy. Anyone out there doing the same care to comment?
For web stuff, I use squid to block a lot of stuff that is usually spyware. It pretty much kills any software that auto-installs (except for java webstart). Usually not to big of a deal-- the business calls the help desk and we walk them through a manual install of flash or whatever it is they need. For very common spyware, we let it infect one test machine then redirect traffic through the proxy to those sites. Ideally, we block the file name or active x control with squid. It isn't a perfect solution though...
For email, I am using p3scan, a pop3 proxy, and a couple simple scripts to rename all untrusted attachments to something else. We also have a nice script that strips out all non-image, non-formatting related html in email. The email soltion seems much more elegant and nice than the web solution-- anyone know of any setups better/similar that cut gator & other companies off at the knees like this??
In practice, this is has reduced our crapware-related helpdesk calls at least 10 fold.
What's the difference between Spyware and a Virus or a trojan horse?
Why is it that a company can get away with what a script kiddie would get thrown in jail for?
And are they still going to threaten to sue people who call Gator, excuse me, Claria Spyware?
And might as well throw out a stupid-patent joke out there.....
Do they own a patent on using computer viruses to make money on the internet?
I hate Liberals and Conservatives.
If you are a Liberal or a Conservative, then HAVE A NICE DAY!
Courage.
I just hope that with this new found money they'll be able to port their excellent product to Linux.
I've been meaning to switch from Windows for years, but since it doesn't run Gator, I just can't see myself making the switch.
Seems like people use it because they like the features, like remembering passwords and filling forms. I never installed it so I don't know if there are other things, but how hard can it be to write the same thing over again, just open source? I don't suppose they have a patent, do they?
You could even profit: write/test it in secret, after their IPO place a bid that their stock would drop, and then advertise/release your free version. Eh?
I run nothing but OS X, IRIX and Redhat 9 (soon to be debian) at home and at my colo provider, so anything that makes Windows a nasty experience is A-OK by me.
Yeah. And AIDS is fine by me, coz I'm in a steady monogamous relationship - hence reasonably safe.
Honestly, what kind of sorry excuse for a human being are you? Actively wishing pain for other people because they don't share your taste in something as boring as an operating system?
Congratulations. You've actually made me feel quite depressed about the world.
Hmmmm, so thats what their calling crap nowadays.
Sig? What Sig?
I'm a freshmen at RIT. When the non computer literate people on my floor ask for help, and I run adaware, I get 300+ hits easy. Install Google Toolbar, and that'll severly get reduced. So, to the average user, I say putting that handy little google toolbar on your computer is the easiest way to solve alot of headaches.
Depends on what you mean by "support," but probably, yeah I would. As long as they were forthright and honest about what risks were entailed in using their products.
Yes, i have principles, it's called a belief in freewill and the right to make your own choices. If someone wants to use a cancer causing product, and they've been told upfront that the product may cause cancer, it's their life to do with as they wish.
I support drug legalization, but i don't think drug education is a bad thing either, as long as it's _real_ education, but "facts" the government is trying to brainwash you with.
Oh, and have you heard about the new chemical they've found in cooked starches that they think causes cancer? Am i supposed to boycott all baked goods producers because of my principles?
And as long as we're talking about principles, how about those "principled" health activists that are trying to force resturants who sell french fries to add a cancer warning but who don't seem to be urgent to get companies to label bread and pasta in the same fashion? They want to get people off of french fries but apparently have no problem supporting companies that make products with the exact same chemical in them but which are considered healthier in other aspects.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
They wanted SCUM but were told that a small company from Lindon, Utah has dibs on that one...
Consultancy: If you're not part of the solution, there's money to be made in prolonging the problem
It list some of their customers: Cendant, Orbitz, priceline.com, Travelocity.com, Buy.com, FTD.com, Netflix, Shopping.com, AmericanSingles.com, Date.com, eHarmony.com, Matchmaker (Lycos, Inc.), Amerix Mortgage Corporation, ING Direct Securities, LowerMyBills.com, RateMyMortgage,goZing.com inPhonic, Motorola, Sprint.
It also refers to their strategic relationships with DivXNetworks, iMesh and Sharman Networks (KaZaA).
For the year ended December 31, 2003, they generated revenue of approximately $90.5 million, substantially all of which came from online advertising. For comparision, Ret Hat's revenue is $126 million for the last year.
The lead underwriter for the IPO is Deutsche Bank Securities.
Mostly because it's illegal to do so. ANY unauthorized intrusion into someone's computer is against the law - even if you're helping them. This is one of the reason why some people thought it was such a bad idea when the "anti-virus virus" idea was floating around last year.
Anthony Papillion
Advanced Data Concepts, Inc.
"Quality Custom Software and IT Services"
You know, I have a problem with people who gripe about "secret stuff" being installed on their computer "without their consent" even though, had they read the EULA, they would have known exactly what was being installed and what it does.
While I am not a fan of Gator or any of those damn spyware crapware programs I have to wonder why a company is so wrong installing spyware on your computer because you were too lazy to read the EULA? If they don't HAVE a EULA or it's deceptive then that's a different thing but I'm talking about EULA's that clearly spell out what happens in the program and where users just don't take the time to read it.
Why do we call Gator unethical and sleazy (which I do) when if we wrote a program that told the user "Accepting this EULA will format your entire hard disk" and the user didn't read it we'd be saying "stupid user"? When a company meets its responsibility of disclosure and the users are too lazy to read it then how is that the companies fault?
Anthony Papillion
Advanced Data Concepts, Inc.
"Quality Custom Software and IT Services"
Step 1: Short this stock
Step 2: Coerce/Beg/Convince MSFT and others to license AdAware & include it in a free "update"
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit and maybe hang out with Martha Stewart for awhile.
Damn... didn't think this thru. She'd make me giver her my shirt to make a "Nice Ghetto Chic" throw rug.
But really, how do we screw this up for them?
Why do I have this? I don't smoke.
Ad-Aware should advertise on Gator...
You can train a lot of ninjas for $150 million. The kind that don't leave any trace.
Actually, it looks like Apple of Germany was the only company placing the ads (or having the ads placed on their behalf by an ad agency). All Apple's branches are in charge of advertising within their own countries. I guess Apple of Germany thought it was a nice way to get switchers... annoy the hell out of them for using a PC with Gator :)
Honestly, when I first saw the name Claria, I thought "...isn't that the name of some penis-enlargement pill I got in my inbox the other day"?
I'm surprised that they have gotten reputable financial institutions to underwrite their IPO. According to the Wired article, it's being underwritten by Deutsche Bank Securities, Piper Jaffray, SG Cowen Securities and Thomas Weisel Partners. Wasn't Deutsche Bank involved in some of SCO's funding??
Their IPO filing says they derived 31% of their 2003 revenue ( ~ $30M ) from "Overture Services". Interesting.. Overture seems to be straddling the line between legitimate business & spyware.
Also, the risks section of their IPO filing is pretty amusing. Anyone with half a clue will see what a detestable company they are after reading the risks. Some of the risks they list are:
- Popup blockers. impeding their ability to attract customers.
- People buying new computers. Since their software won't be on the new system.
- spyware detectors which uninstall their software (as offered by AOL, McAfee, Symantec, Earthlink, and others).
- Changes in MS operating systems (i.e. SP2 with the popup blocker and other security enhancements could screw them)
- New technologies that would "hamper the operation or our GAIN AdServer".
- Changes in legislation could impair our ability to provide services
Basically, they are saying that they operate by tricking people into installing their software, and a lot of people are trying to stop shady operators like them.
Anyone who invests in them deserves to lose their money.
Depending on the judge...
1. Persuade judge to install a program that does some frivolous thing (eg. changes wallpaper every hour) and bundles gator along with a 45 page EULA from hell.
2a. Watch them skip EULA without reading it.
OR
2b. Time how long it takes for them to read and fully understand EULA.
3. Convince judge that such EULA's are a crock and no ordinary person would bother reading and comprehending such an EULA, especially for such a frivolous , free, program.
4. Profit from lawsuit.
You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
There is a lot of hype here.
And that is the "boycott". Named after the English Colonel who's impoverished and powerless Irish peons nonetheless discovered a way of forcing him off their land and out of their lives.
Gator/Claria survives by delivering an effective way for advertisers to reach consumers. You cannot punish Gator/Claria directly - some other company would simply take its place.
Rather, let us organize a boycott of any advertiser who tries to sell his product via spyware of any kind.
Writing to any company that advertises via spyware, and telling them that you will not be using their products any more is a good idea. Telling everyone you know about such companies may also be effective. The best thing would be pressure from consumer groups to government so that advertisers are forced to adhere to a code of conduct that excludes spyware.
Finally, spyware companies will find that the only clients they can find are the same criminal rings that pay for worms, trojans, and viruses, and this is one commercial sector that will find it hard to lobby governments for protection.
Boycott the bums into behaving properly!
Ceci n'est pas une signature
I beleive the preferred method, would be to flood news outlets with negative information until the stock plumets to pennies on the dollar. Then pick it up and change the titles of everyone in the company to "towel boy"
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Don't know if anyone else has made this point - I got a little bored of reading the same "Claria is junk" post I must admit. But.... I was wondering if we'll see spyware-removal companies being sued for interfering with business practices? Here we have a company giving away, or selling in some cases a product which will reduce a company's advertising revenues. Will it be any more serious or carry more weight if perpetrated against a public company... maybe not
&lawyers($instruction);