StepUp's technology platform will power the new QuickBooks Product Listing Service, which is designed to help local businesses attract buyers to their shops by making their product information and images available online through established entities such as Google. Additional information about StepUp is available online at www.StepUp.com.
“By joining forces, we can greatly enhance our local product marketing services for our customers and partners.”
"The purchase of StepUp helps QuickBooks solve one of the biggest challenges for product-based businesses -- customer acquisition," said Brad Smith, senior vice president of Intuit's Small Business Division. "With StepUp's services QuickBooks users will be able to significantly expand their reach by quickly and easily making their products searchable on the Web."
StepUp will deliver their services under the QuickBooks brand and continue to be based in San Francisco, Calif. The team is led by Kendall Fargo, who founded StepUp in February 2004 and is now a general manager at Intuit, reporting to Brad Smith.
"This acquisition allows StepUp to leverage Intuit's unmatched knowledge and experience with small businesses," said Fargo. "By joining forces, we can greatly enhance our local product marketing services for our customers and partners."
Intuit acquired StepUp and the company's subsidiary, JGSI Corporation for approximately $60 million in cash. Intuit does not expect the acquisition to have a material effect on financial results in fiscal 2007.
About StepUp
Headquartered in San Francisco, StepUp is a leading local shopping services company that helps retailers use the Internet to display their in-store products. StepUp's mission is to expose local inventory information from retailers of all sizes to consumers wherever they are browsing products online. Its patent-pending inventory extraction tools make it easy for any store to capitalize on online consumers' growing reliance on the web for locating products to buy locally.
About Intuit Inc.
Intuit Inc. is a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses, consumers and accounting professionals. Its flagship products and services, including QuickBooks(R), Quicken(R) and TurboTax(R) software, simplify small business management and payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and filing. ProSeries(R) and Lacerte(R) are Intuit's leading tax preparation software suites for professional accountants.
Founded in 1983, Intuit had annual revenue of $2.3 billion in its fiscal year 2006. The company has nearly 7,500 employees with major offices in 13 states across the United States, and offices in Canada and several other foreign countries. More information can be found at www.intuit.com.
Intuit, the Intuit logo and QuickBooks, among others, are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of Intuit Inc. in the United States and other countries.
Caution About Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including expectations relating to the acquisition of StepUp Commerce, Inc. and its expected effects on Intuit's business, customers and financial results. Because these forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, there are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expressed expectations. These factors include, without limitation, the following: Intuit may not be successful at integrating StepUp employees and assets into our business, products and services; Intuit may not be able to retain key employees; and offerings using the StepUp platform may not address customer needs or achieve broad market acceptance. More details about other risks that may affect Intuit's business are included in our Form 10-K for fiscal 2005 and in our other SEC filings. You can locate these reports through Intuit's Web site at http://www.intuit.com/about_intuit/investors. Forward-looking statements are based on information as of the date of the press release, and Intuit does not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statement or other information in this press release.
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