Xing May Be In Talks To Acquire Plaxo

Update: I spoke with Plaxo CEO Ben Golub and a spokesperson from Xing this weekend. Both deny the deal, although Xing has other news later this week, they say.

We are hearing a LOT of chatter about a possible Xing-Plaxo merger in the $250 million range. The deal makes some sense – newly public Xing is headquartered in Germany and hasn’t gotten much traction in the U.S. where it competes directly with LinkedIn. Plaxo, with a very strong U.S. presence, could give them the opportunity they need to attack this market.

But people who would be very likely to have knowledge of the deal are saying they’ve heard absolutely nothing. One thing we are hearing from everyone, though: Plaxo is definitely in play. The company’s fair valuation is another matter. Last year they crossed 10 million members, claimed they were getting 50,000 new members per day, and had just become profitable. But it has been more than a year since Plaxo released those stats.