Exit watch, week of May 19, 2008

Comcast buys Plaxo

U.S. cable company Comcast has bought Plaxo Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the purchase price is thought to be between $145 million and $175 million, according to a news report by Thomson Reuters. Mountain View, Calif.-based Plaxo makes an address management system and operates a social networking service called Pulse that it launched last fall. The company raised about $24 million in funding from Globespan Capital Partners, Sequoia Capital, DAG Ventures, Harbinger Venture Management and Cisco Systems Inc. over the past six years.

CBS has eye for CNetCBS Corp. agreed last week to acquire CNet Networks Inc. for about $1.8 billion in cash. The move comes five months after hedge fund Jana Partners began an effort to wrest control of the CNet board, in partnership with Spark Capital, Velocity Interactive Capital, Sandell Asset Management Corp. and Paul Gardi of Alex Interactive Media.

SOA checks out LogicLibrary

SOA Software Inc., a Los Angeles-based provider of Service-Oriented Computing and Web services management, security and governance solutions, has acquired LogicLibrary, a Pittsburgh-based SOA repository and governance vendor. No financial terms were disclosed. LogicLibrary has raised about $15 million from Novak Biddle Venture Partners, The Future Fund, Birchmere Ventures, US Trust Private Equity and Court Square Ventures. SOA is also venture backed and has raised more than $40 million in funding since 1998 from such firms as Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Redpoint Ventures, Mellon Ventures, Paladin Capital Group, Goldman Sachs and Palisades Ventures.

Nanometrics buys TevetNanometrics Inc. (Nasdaq: NANO) has acquired Tevet Process Control Technologies Ltd., an Israel-based provider of metrology solutions to the global semiconductor and solar manufacturing industry. No financial terms were disclosed. Tevet has raised more than $7 million in VC funding since 2002 from such firms as Intel Capital, Eurofund, Eurovestech, LTG Development Capital, Cipio Partners and Ofer Hi-Tech.