It seems that DirectTrack is closing its doors. Performance Marketing Insider learned today that they were sending client’s letters informing them that sometime in March the company would be closing down. This comes after months of speculations about it’s future, including an attempt to sell the company that was stopped by Digital River’s board of directors.
This seems to be perhaps the nail in the coffin for DirectTrack, as it has faced significant issues in the last few years that brought to light its technology and service problems. In 2010 it suffered a significant and public security breach when all of the data of it’s clients were stolen and put on the black market but a Russian hacker. (As a note, I caught the hacker) Last year the company faced even more problems and a public relations nightmare when it was down for days, leaving most of its clients with no tracking or data reporting.
This perceived failure of the company caused many clients to jump ship to other platforms that took advantage of these problems. Companies started mailing last year all the clients of DirectTrack explaining how their system was “better” and even some companies did public press releases and blog posts bringing up the issues of DirectTrack.
On top of this, we have found a mention in public filings of Accelerize New Media, the company that owns Cake Marketing, that they will be paying Digital River a minimum of $1M in referrals for new clients.
On November 22, 2013, Accelerize New Media, Inc., or the Company, entered into a Referral Agreement between the Company and Digital River Marketing Solutions, Inc., or the Referrer, pursuant to which the Referrer has agreed to refer certain of its existing and potential clients to the Company in consideration for the payment by the Company to the Referrer of a minimum payment of $1,000,000, payable in four equal quarterly installments on each of March 31, June 30, September 30 and December 31, 2014, plus certain potential additional referral fees.
