Comcast to acquire contact manager Plaxo

The Philadelphia-based cable company said social networking and other services will be added to its Comcast.net, Fancast.com and Fandango.com Web sites. Cable subscribers eventually will also be able to access the services through their set-top boxes and other devices.

"We think the combination of Plaxo and Comcast together can supercharge both of our products," said Sam Schwartz, executive vice president of Comcast Interactive Media. "Comcast is looking at Plaxo to become the social media backbone of its products."

Plaxo, based in Mountain View, Calif., is a 50-employee company funded by investors ranging from Cisco Systems Inc. to former Yahoo Inc. CEO Tim Koogle.

The purchase price was not disclosed.

One Plaxo service lets users update the contact information their friends have on them automatically, by sending the updates to friends' address books. Plaxo also operates a social networking site called Pulse. Plaxo says it has 15 million online accounts.

Plaxo Chief Executive Ben Golub said his company already manages address books on Comcast.net. Both companies hope to expand their services across different devices.

"Right now on Plaxo you have a lot of people who are sharing photos," he said. "On Comcast, you ... also share them with your grandmother when she turns on the TV."

He was referring to the ability to post photos on comcast.net for other subscribers to see.

The acquisition is part of Comcast's strategy to strengthen its online presence. The nation's largest cable operator has been steadily adding features to Comcast.net, its main e-mail portal.

It also developed an entertainment site called Fancast and now owns the Fandango movie and ticketing site.

Shares of Comcast rose 28 cents to $22.37 on Wednesday.