We’re getting reports that Peerflix, the tumultuous company that switched from acting as a DVD-swapping service to an ad network, has been acquired by Brad Greenspan’s LiveUniverse for an undisclosed amount (though we’re guessing it’s pretty low). We’ve asked LiveUniverse to comment.
Peerflix was founded in 2004 as a “peer-to-peer Netflix”, helping users to swap DVDs they owned for a dollar. The site abandoned the flat fixed pricing scheme for a demand-based model in 2006, but that didn’t work well either: in November 2007 it decided to launch a media network that had nothing to do with its original DVD swapping service. Peerflix finally canned the DVD trading business earlier this year, so Live Universe is acquiring it solely for its ad network.
Peerflix is the latest in a lengthy string of acquisitions made by LiveUniverse in the last year. In February, the company acquired Revver, a struggling video portal that shared revenue with content creators. In April, it acquired PageFlakes, a customizable homepage that has been competing in a saturated market that includes iGoogle. Apparently it wasn’t a good match – only four months after the deal, PageFlakes CEO bailed from the company.
Most recently, the company has acquired Jangl, a troubled VoIP services provider, and Meevee, a site that combines TV listings with video.