Wikio

Wikio was established in 2005 by French entrepreneur Pierre Chappaz, following the successful sale of his previous venture, the price comparison site Kelkoo, to Yahoo! in 2004. Chappaz, an alumnus of École Centrale Paris with prior experience at IBM, Toshiba, and Computer Associates, launched Wikio as a search engine focused on information from media sites and blogs. This venture was part of his broader entrepreneurial activities, which also included involvement in the launch of the customizable portal Netvibes.

Initially, Wikio operated as a news aggregation service. Over time, the company expanded its portfolio through a series of acquisitions, evolving into the Wikio Group. By 2011, the group managed several products, including the Overblog platform, Wikio News, Wikio Shopping, and a social media advertising platform named Ebuzzing. The business model pivoted from a simple search engine to a multifaceted media group with a significant focus on social media marketing. Revenue was generated primarily through its advertising division, which seeded branded content, particularly videos, across social media for its clients.

A significant milestone occurred in August 2011 when the Wikio Group rebranded itself as Ebuzzing, reflecting the strategic shift towards its most profitable unit, which by then accounted for 70% of the company's turnover. This rebranding was accompanied by a $25 million Series B funding round to accelerate growth in the social media advertising market. The original Wikio news sites were integrated into the new Ebuzzing platform, repurposing their influence analysis functionalities for advertising clients. The company eventually merged with Teads in 2014, a specialist in online video advertising, and the combined entity was later acquired by Altice in 2017.

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