The consumerization of online technologies is creating a demand for rich Internet experiences with user-generated content. Today's buyers desire Web sites to speed up the process of finding a product, enable comparisons of products, provide tools to help buyers understand the product, and have community-based information to help them make final buying decisions.

With a rapidly growing number of regular users of the Internet worldwide, the opportunity has never been greater for capitalizing on the user "experience"- one that encourages significant free time on the web, whether engaging in social networking sites or making online purchases.

How Web 2.0 Has Changed M&A Forever

After the first dot-com bubble burst, investors and buyers demanded established revenue growth from Internet companies seeking to capitalize on a growing user base and potential for traffic monetization. As valuations have undoubtedly dropped since the late 1990's and arguably again since the mid 2000's, Internet content entrepreneurs are forced to creatively monetize traffic and build web sites in a cost efficient manner.

Arbor has a track record of helping growing Internet companies achieve impressive valuations with both financial and strategic buyers. In a time when buyers seek "value" opportunities, the traffic-rich technology company is the valuable entity, whereas excess capital is simply a commodity. Arbor knows this and can help Internet companies pursue liquidity in a way that maximizes valuation.