MyHeritage acquires Legacy Family Tree — and offers a half-price sale

MyHeritage announced yesterday it has acquired Millennia Corporation, makers of the Legacy Family Tree genealogy desktop software and Legacy Family Tree Webinars. This is MyHeritage’s ninth acquisition.

The acquisition is expected to provide resources and technologies to advance and expand Legacy’s software and its webinar series.

In Legacy’s announcement, it described the acquisition as a friendly one and that both parties are happy about the deal. “MyHeritage is interested in expanding its services to the Legacy users; and after operating independently for 20 years, Legacy is interested in the stability, financial security, and expanded technical resources that MyHeritage provides.”

Legacy apparently turned down a potential offer from Ancestry.com, who shut down their Family Tree Maker product, later found a buyer for it in Ukraine, and then sold it off.

The Legacy founders Dave Berdan, Ken McGinnis, and Geoff Rasmussen wanted to “ensure that our future partner had as much care for our software and our customers as we do. MyHeritage believes that genealogists deserve to be cared for and continues to maintain and improve its own desktop software, Family Tree Builder. They were the best fit.”

50% off software and webinars
To celebrate the acquisition, Legacy is offering a limited time, never-offered-before discount on Legacy 9 software and annual webinar memberships. Through Sunday, August 13, take 50 percent off:

Legacy 9 software – from $34.95  $17.48US

1 year webinar membership (or extension) – $49.95  $24.98US

With more than 550 webinars offered by Legacy, including the subscribers-only series — and a stronger Canadian dollar — this could be what makes me break open the piggy bank. A one-year subscription works out to about $32CDN.

Links to the discounts and more information about the acquisition are in the announcement.