Adobe acquires Business Catalyst, GoodBarry

Adobe Systems has agreed to acquire Business Catalyst, maker of e-commerce software suite GoodBarry, for an undisclosed amount.

Despite no official announcement by Adobe, the Australian-American company has published a brief Q&A on its site about the acquisition. According to that information, Business Catalyst's management team, pricing, products and partner agreements will remain unchanged.

While Business Catalyst serves web professionals, the GoodBarry sub-brand serves "web-savvy DIYers." The GoodBarry brand -- "simply a Business Catalyst brand set up for our retail operations," the announcement says -- will be shut down as of October 1, 2009. GoodBarry and its customers will be merged under the Business Catalyst name.

Why did Adobe buy Business Catalyst? It's unclear.

BC and GoodBarry provide tools that help web designers set up online businesses for clients with minimal cost and effort (no programming skills required), combining website content management, e-commerce features, e-mail marketing, business analytics and basic CRM tools in a single package.

TechCrunch takes a stab at it:

Adobe evidently offers a wide range of tools for web professionals, but in the near future does not plan to integrate Business Catalyst’s products into its own offering, although they are clearly looking to hosted services to deliver websites and online businesses more and more. There will be an initial transit period, but with regards to what will happen after that both companies remain mum and mention only that they are currently in ‘planning stages’ and will provide more information in the following weeks.