Adobe Acquires GoodBarry

Business Catalyst, maker of the GoodBarry online business suite, is reporting that the company has been acquired by Adobe Systems for an undisclosed amount.

Published reports noted that the GoodBarry ecommerce suite brand will be shut down as of October 1 and re-branded as Business Catalyst, but that will merely be a cosmetic change, the company said.

According to an FAQ on the Business Catalyst site, Adobe is acquiring Business Catalyst/GoodBarry because:

"GoodBarry enables web professionals to build online businesses for their clients at a fraction of the traditional time and cost, without programming. GoodBarry will be a great complement to Adobe's existing tools and services for web professionals, who are increasingly looking to hosted services to deliver websites and online businesses."

The GoodBarry FAQ also emphasized that there will be no interruption to software delivery and support due to the transition.

"Here at GoodBarry we're incredibly excited to be joining Adobe in furthering our mission of Online Businesses, Not Websites," the GoodBarry page said. "There are some changes we'll be making to GoodBarry in the coming months. Most importantly, we'll be refocusing our marketing and sales efforts on the web professional market (via businesscatalyst.com), as opposed to web-savvy DIYers such as you. In other words, this means that eventually we will cease 'retail' operations and focus on our wholesale operations, and we will only be selling subscriptions to our software via our partner and reseller network."

For its part, TechCrunch, which reported on the acquisition, said:

"Adobe evidently offers a wide range of tools for web professionals, but in the near future does not plan to integrate Business Catalyst’s products into its own offering, although they are clearly looking to hosted services to deliver websites and online businesses more and more. There will be an initial transit period, but with regards to what will happen after that both companies remain mum and mention only that they are currently in ‘planning stages’ and will provide more information in the following weeks."