Digital River buys Direct Response Technologies

In a move to expand its online advertising services, Digital River Inc. has acquired Direct Response Technologies Inc., a provider of technology that supports affiliate management and e-marketing applications.

Direct Response Technologies will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Digital River and continue to be headed by Direct Response president Jason Wolfe. The MyCoupons and GiftCards.com units of Direct Reponse, however, will now operate under a newly formed, independent company, Direct Sites Inc., partly owned by Wolfe.

"The acquisition of Direct Response supports two of our strategic growth initiatives—to expand both Digital River`s oneNetwork sales channel and strategic marketing services," said Joel Ronning, CEO of Digital River, a provider of e-commerce platform outsourcing services. "By combining the companies, we intend to deliver a more comprehensive affiliate management system, maximize cross-selling opportunities between our affiliate networks and further capitalize on the strong growth opportunity that exists for our strategic marketing services."

Among the products Digital River acquired in the deal are the DirectTrack affiliate management program, which covers more than 150 affiliate networks and 500 merchants; the KeywordMax paid search bid management tool; the DNEList e-mail campaign and list suppression applications; and the DirectLeads online marketing network.

Under Digital River, “Our focus will be on improving our technologies in affiliate tracking, keyword management and other areas,” Wolfe says.

Wolfe, adding that he plans to devote his full time to running Direct Response Technologies, says he’s looking for a general manager to run Direct Sites while transferring 14 Direct Response employees to the new company.

MyCoupons is a search engine for retail coupons. GiftCards.com offers gift cards that carry a Visa logo and intended for use at merchants who accept Visa credit or debit cards.