Groove Networks exits successfully to Microsoft after 8 years of development. Founder Ray Ozzie will be joining Microsoft as CTO:

Ozzie will have responsibility for influencing corporate-wide communication and collaboration products and associated platform infrastructure. He will report directly to Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates.

The appointment comes after Microsoft acquired collaborative working software company Groove Networks, which Ozzie founded 1997."

Microsoft already hold a stake in Groove since 2001 worth $51 million at that time.

"The software giant's $51 million investment gives it a minority stake in Groove, a company founded in 1997 by Lotus Notes creator Ray Ozzie. Previous investors include Accel Partners and Intel."

Groove had seen some (excessive) funding earlier there were three start-up rounds (one $41 million in 2000) and two more rounds with supposedly $19 million earlier.

In 2003 another $38 million came in after the successful restructuring.

"Groove Networks also announced it has completed a restructuring of its sales, marketing and services organizations, resulting in the elimination of 58 positions, or 20 percent of its workforce. The majority of jobs eliminated are at the company's Beverly, Mass., headquarters. The company said the reorganization will reduce its sales and marketing costs, reflecting the current reality of extended Fortune 500 enterprise software sales cycles."

From a convenience perspective I really like their technology to synchronize distributed file folders. There is an interesting (although somewhat outdated article here).

Ray has shown he was a really early adopter starting in 1997 but it seems he knew what he was doing.

Interesting company.