Home Best Buy Reorganizes in the Cloud, Acquiring 123Together.com

Best Buy Reorganizes in the Cloud, Acquiring 123Together.com

If you’ve ever investigated various sources for hosted Exchange e-mail or SharePoint sites, or virtual cloud servers, for a small business of under 100 employees or so, you’ve probably run into a service called 123Together.com. It’s titled like it wants to be listed first in the Yellow Pages, but in terms of service quality, it’s been limping along with a handful of others looking to gain par against GoDaddy.com.

But 123Together also has a stake in cloud services, with simple virtual servers in the cloud that compete on at least one level with Amazon. Meanwhile, retailer Best Buy is interested in competing with Amazon on any level it can. Last month, it decided it can’t compete with Amazon, announcing a plan to dump its Napster service’s existing customers onto Rhapsody. Best Buy had just acquired the Napster brand in September 2008.

Today, Best Buy announced a deal to acquire 123Together.com’s parent company, mindSHIFT Technologies, for $167 million, apparently in cash. This move will put Best Buy into the hosted services business, which includes floating Web sites and virtual servers for retail customers in the cloud.

123Together.com customers learned of the deal today by way of a letter from the division’s president and COO, Mona Abutaleb. Though she said her parent company, mindSHIFT, would continue to operate as a Best Buy division under its current name, the fact that she did not say 123Together would keep its own brand (Best Buy also made no such revelation in its statements this morning) speaks volumes.

“We began a process to seek out a new investor several months ago to continue our growth strategy,” Abutaleb wrote. “During our process, it became clear that we were very closely aligned with Best Buy in both corporate vision as well as in our culture of integrity, customer value, and results. Throughout this process, Best Buy has been emphatic about its commitment as a corporate objective to expand its SMB IT services business, and mindSHIFT will be one of the foundations of this strategy.”


Flash Player 9 or higher is required to view the chart
Click here to download Flash Player nowView the full BBY chart at Wikinvest

Best Buy has done some more shifting of its own besides dumping Napster. This morning, as the BBC reported, it’s pulling out of its joint venture with U.K. electronics retailing giant Carphone Warehouse. All eleven Best Buy-branded U.K. stores will close, it was reported; while Best Buy will purchase Carphone Warehouse’s 25% stake in its own U.S. retail operations for $1.34 billion, according to Bloomberg News.

About ReadWrite’s Editorial Process

The ReadWrite Editorial policy involves closely monitoring the tech industry for major developments, new product launches, AI breakthroughs, video game releases and other newsworthy events. Editors assign relevant stories to staff writers or freelance contributors with expertise in each particular topic area. Before publication, articles go through a rigorous round of editing for accuracy, clarity, and to ensure adherence to ReadWrite's style guidelines.

Get the biggest tech headlines of the day delivered to your inbox

    By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe anytime.

    Tech News

    Explore the latest in tech with our Tech News. We cut through the noise for concise, relevant updates, keeping you informed about the rapidly evolving tech landscape with curated content that separates signal from noise.

    In-Depth Tech Stories

    Explore tech impact in In-Depth Stories. Narrative data journalism offers comprehensive analyses, revealing stories behind data. Understand industry trends for a deeper perspective on tech's intricate relationships with society.

    Expert Reviews

    Empower decisions with Expert Reviews, merging industry expertise and insightful analysis. Delve into tech intricacies, get the best deals, and stay ahead with our trustworthy guide to navigating the ever-changing tech market.