Lyris to buy email expert Sparklist

NEW YORK: Lyris Technologies, whose software helps The Sopranos and Jerry Falwell keep in touch with their fans, said on Sunday it would buy Sparklist.com Corp. to boost its customer base and its capability to manage email lists. The deal, financial terms of which were not disclosed, marks further consolidation in a sector whose reputation has been sullied by unscrupulous players who have helped increase the proliferation of unwanted email known as spam.

Lyris and Sparklist send so-called "opt-in" emails, which users request from companies. Privately held Sparklist, about 20 percent of which Lyris already owns, distributes 750 million email notices and newsletters for corporate customers including ChevronTexaco and Nokia. Sparklist is one of 3,000 firms that use Lyris' software and services, said Lyris, which is also a private firm.

Online and marketing companies have been swallowing up email specialists, many of which have been struggling to survive. For example, DoubleClick Inc., earlier this year closed a deal to buy Sparklist's ailing rival MessageMedia for just $12.5 million after an initial bid of $41 million shrank amid the stock market's decline. Founded in 1994 and based in Berkeley, California, Lyris competes with publicly traded companies Digital Impact Inc. and ClickAction Inc., both of which narrowed their net losses last quarter from the year-ago period.

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