Buddy Media’s growth story, as investor James Altucher told it in 2012, was less about getting Facebook games right than about recognizing when that first idea was not working, finding business customers, and turning recurring work into software. The “$800mm+” in his headline was Altucher’s estimate—not Salesforce’s announced deal price. Salesforce announced approximately $689 million in consideration on June 4, 2012, and completed the acquisition on August 13, 2012.
What the “$800mm+” figure actually represents
Altucher’s June 2012 TechCrunch headline used “$800mm+” as an estimate derived from his reading of transaction language and assumptions about cash and options. Salesforce’s official June 4 announcement instead described approximately $689 million in agreed consideration, payable in cash and Salesforce equity. The figures describe different things and should not be treated as interchangeable.
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| Figure | Source and date | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| $800mm+ | James Altucher, June 2012 | Altucher’s headline estimate based on assumptions about the agreement, cash, and options; not Salesforce’s announced consideration. Altucher’s account |
| Approximately $689 million | Salesforce, June 4, 2012 | Announced consideration for the agreed acquisition, payable in cash and Salesforce equity. Salesforce announcement |
| Approximately $735.8 million | Salesforce acquisition accounting, reported in 2013 | Acquisition-date fair value of consideration transferred—a later accounting measure, not the June announcement figure. Salesforce SEC filing |
A separate Salesforce SEC filing said the company issued approximately 287,000 restricted shares to founders and restricted-stock holders, subject to forfeiture conditions in specified circumstances. That share issuance is a detail of the transaction, not a replacement for either the announced consideration or the later accounting measure. Salesforce SEC filing
Seven choices Altucher said helped Buddy Media grow
Altucher was an investor in Buddy Media and wrote a first-person, investor-informed retrospective. His “seven things” are his interpretation of the company’s decisions, not a controlled analysis showing that each one caused growth.
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1. Building a relationship before the business was clear
Altucher says Mike Lazerow first approached him about Stockpickr in 2007, and that the two became friends. It gives the story a personal starting point, but the account does not establish that the meeting caused Buddy Media’s later direction or success.
2. Getting into Facebook early—even with the wrong initial product
In Altucher’s telling, Lazerow bought AceBucks technology in 2007, and Buddy Media began with Facebook games and virtual goods. Altucher says those games failed to catch on. The useful point is not that the initial bet worked; it is that the company had experience with the platform before it shifted its focus.
3. Pivoting from games toward business customers
Altucher says Buddy Media redirected its Facebook expertise and developers to help companies build a presence and engage customers on the platform. That shift placed the company closer to business needs and, in his account, brought in services revenue during the 2008 financial crisis.
4. Turning repeated client work into a software platform
Altucher’s central strategic argument is that Buddy Media noticed clients asking for similar help, standardized recurring tools, and made them available through a platform rather than repeating bespoke implementation. In business terms, that meant trying to make delivery less dependent on people doing the same custom work for each client and more dependent on reusable software. His article offers this as an explanation, not a quantified measure of the platform’s effect.
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5. Connecting a distribution partner with customer access
Altucher describes WPP, an advertising agency group, as an equity partner with access to prospective customers. That arrangement could connect financing with a route to market, but the article does not quantify how much WPP contributed to Buddy Media’s customer acquisition.
6. Maintaining an unusually demanding pace
Altucher recounts a call with Lazerow while he was traveling between events and customers. The anecdote conveys the intensity Altucher associated with the company’s work; it does not establish that long hours or constant travel caused its growth.
7. Reaching a strategic sale to Salesforce
Salesforce described Buddy Media as a social marketing platform for brands and advertisers to publish content, place and optimize social advertising, and measure effectiveness across Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and other channels. The announcement named Ford, Hewlett Packard, and L’Oreal as customers; those are Salesforce’s claims in the acquisition announcement, not an independent audit of customer relationships or results.
Salesforce said it would combine Buddy Media with Radian6 in the Salesforce Marketing Cloud. When the acquisition closed on August 13, 2012, Salesforce described Radian6 as its social listening capability. Salesforce closing announcement
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What the case study can—and cannot—show
The story supports a clear sequence: an early Facebook games and virtual-currency effort, a pivot toward business customers, and an effort to turn repeated client needs into a software product. Altucher framed those choices as reasons Buddy Media became an attractive company to acquire. The account is valuable as a contemporary investor’s perspective, but it does not isolate the impact of each decision or establish audited revenue figures.
Contemporary TechCrunch coverage also relayed estimates and projections, including reported revenue run rates. Those figures should be understood as reported estimates, not audited results or completed transaction terms. Contemporary TechCrunch reporting
At the time of the deal, Salesforce co-founder and CEO Michael Lazerow said, “Buddy Media’s mission is to eliminate the current state of anarchy in social marketing.” The quote captures the problem the business said it was addressing; it does not, by itself, demonstrate how effectively the product solved it.
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