Gruner and the JMI Equity Gang Make “A Killing” on Sale of DoubleClick to Google for $3.1 B Friday the 13th brought some headline grabbing news to the Cross Keys venture gang of Harry Gruner and JMI Equity who purchased DoubleClick with Hellman & Friedman for $1.1 billion less than 2 years ago. The Wall Street Journal described the transaction in the rarified language as a “stunning change in valuation for the company”; another reference called it “a killing.”

Google decided to come in with a preemptive $3.1 billion bid for DoubleClick– a billion north of Gruner and Gang’s expectations just a month ago - 10x trailing revenues of $300 mililion for the financial aficionados. Microsoft was left deal-less in Seattle and, once again, thwarted in their efforts to enter the search and advertising arena dominated by Google.

Last December, the financial alchemy started with DoubleClick’s sale of its transaction processing services provider to Alliance Data Systems for $435 million. This isolated deal covered the original equity of $330 million put in 18 months earlier.

Hellman and Friedman’s Phillip Hammarskjöld described the DoubleClick deal, “This was heavy-duty business building that private equity does enormously well”.

So out of the carnage of the dot com IPO tech blowup, a Baltimore venture capitalist cum market timer has beat the herd on Wall Street in the public-to-private to where’s-the-exit stampede. Gruner and Gang’s next fund should easily add another comma, joining the league of New Enterprise Associates as another Baltimore billion dollar venture firm.

"I made my money by selling too soon."
Bernard Baruch (1870-1965) financier & economist

Labels: Baltimore, DoubleClick, Gruner, JMI Equity, Venture capital

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