In a move to spice up its married life, wedding planning website The Knot (Nasdaq: KNOT) is willing to see other people. This morning's news finds The Knot purchasing WedSnap, the maker of Facebook's Weddingbook application.
As the most popular wedding-related app on Facebook, Weddingbook offers an engaging interactive platform that allows couples to update wedding details and bridal registries. Guests can also warm up to one another through message board discussions and checking out profiles, so they are no longer strangers by the time the big day arrives.
It's just the latest buy for The Knot. It acquired Breastfeeding.com last week, as part of its efforts to grow into a wider lifestyle media company. The Knot claims to reach 80% of all to-be-weds online. Educational sites like Breastfeeding help the company reach out to its captive audience longer into the courtship cycle.
Broadening its wingspan doesn't mean that it will own new niches outside of its matrimonial stronghold. The Knot is toiling in markets where Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO), Disney's (NYSE: DIS) Family.com, and Alloy (Nasdaq: ALOY) are just some of the many players.
However, The Knot can't afford to let crowded markets get in the way. The company has missed Wall Street expectations in three of the six previous quarters. Its most recent quarter was one of the two winners, but it wasn't impressive on absolute basis. Net income fell by 24% on a modest 8% top-line advance.
These aren't the best of days to be delivering leads to wedding service providers. Folks are scaling back on their wedding plans, if not putting off the big day altogether. You see this happening with the weakness at engagement ring specialist Blue Nile (Nasdaq: NILE). Even floral arrangement specialists like 1-800-FLOWERS (Nasdaq: FLWS) and lead provider FTD -- now owned by United Online (Nasdaq: UNTD) -- must be feeling the pinch.
The Knot's wedding referral business will bounce back eventually, but it's refreshing to see the company gobble up logical puzzle pieces during the market lull. With roughly half of its market cap spoken for by its $3.60 a share in cash and auction-rate securities, it couldn't pick a better time to be a sugar daddy.
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