Monday, January 14, 2008

Blackboard Buys NTI Group

Washington, D.C.-based Blackboard said Monday that it has agreed to buy Sherman Oaks-based NTI Group, in a deal that is worth approximately $182M plus an additional $17M in earnout. Blackboard, which develops enterprise software and services for the education market, said it would pay $132M in cash plus $50M in stock, and up to an additional $17M in consideration based on financial targets. NTI Group develops hosted, mass communications systems for communicating with students, including alerts, announcements, and personalized voice messages for students. NTI Group is headed by Robin Richards, the former President of MP3.com, and also includes a number of other ex-MP3.com employees and executives. According to Blackboard, NTI had more than 1,200 contracts for the firm's notification systems for educational institutions.