ValueClick Acquires Investopedia
Leading Financial Website Provides Organic Traffic and Monetization in Key Vertical
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., Aug 04, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq:VCLK) announced today that it has acquired
Investopedia (www.investopedia.com),
a leading financial information and investing education website. Founded
in 1999, Investopedia provides consumers with a comprehensive library of
financial terms, articles, tutorials, and investing education tools,
such as virtual trading simulators and exam preparation materials.
"Investopedia gives us great content, organic traffic and established
advertiser relationships in the important financial services advertising
vertical, as well as an experienced team and immediate synergy
opportunities with ValueClick Brands and ValueClick Media," said Jim
Zarley, chief executive officer of ValueClick. "We welcome the
Investopedia team to ValueClick and look forward to working with them as
we extend our capabilities in this key vertical."
Investopedia, based in Edmonton, Canada, has built nearly 30,000 pieces
of evergreen financial related content and develops an additional 7,000
pieces of content each year. Investopedia generates the majority of its
traffic organically and monetizes primarily by selling
cost-per-impression display advertising through its direct sales force.
The site attracts 2.2 million unique U.S. visitors per month (comScore,
June 2010) and has a highly engaged audience that includes 3.1 million
newsletter and 1.7 million email subscribers, and 1.3 million stock
simulator users.
Investopedia's management team and employee base have been retained by
ValueClick and the business will run as a wholly-owned subsidiary of
ValueClick, Inc. within its Owned & Operated segment.
"The Investopedia team is excited to join ValueClick," said Kristina
Milke, managing director of Investopedia. "Our strengths in efficient
content development and organic traffic complement ValueClick's
strengths in traffic acquisition and monetization, and I believe the
combination will benefit both organizations. We look forward to working
with the ValueClick team."
Under the terms of the transaction, ValueClick has acquired the assets
and assumed certain liabilities of Investopedia from Forbes, Inc. for
approximately $42 million in cash. For the twelve-month period ending
December 31, 2010, Investopedia is expected to generate approximately
$10 million in revenue and $5 million in adjusted-EBITDA1.
Forbes, Inc. was represented by The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc., a New
York City based investment bank that specializes in the media,
information, marketing, and technology industries.
Conference Call Tomorrow at 4:30 p.m.
ET Jim Zarley, chief executive officer, and John Pitstick,
chief financial officer, will discuss the Investopedia acquisition
during ValueClick's second quarter financial results conference call on
August 5 at 4:30 p.m. ET. The live Webcast of the conference call will
be available on the Investor Relations section of www.valueclick.com.
A replay of the conference call will be available through August 12 at
(888) 203-1112 and (719) 457-0820 (pass code: 7857476). An archive of
the Webcast will also be available through August 12.
About ValueClick
ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq:VCLK) is one of the world's largest integrated
online marketing services companies, offering comprehensive and scalable
solutions to deliver cost-effective customer acquisition for advertisers
and transparent revenue streams for publishers. ValueClick's
performance-based solutions allow its customers to reach their potential
through multiple online marketing channels, including affiliate
and search marketing, display
advertising, ad
serving and related technologies, and comparison
shopping. ValueClick's brands include Commission Junction,
ValueClick Media, Mediaplex, Smarter.com, CouponMountain.com,
Investopedia.com, and PriceRunner. For more information, please visit www.valueclick.com.
This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks
and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the risk that market
demand for on-line advertising in general, and performance based on-line
advertising in particular, will not grow as rapidly as predicted, and
the risk that legislation and governmental regulation could negatively
impact the Company's performance. Actual results may differ materially
from the results predicted, and reported results should not be
considered an indication of future performance. Important factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or
implied in the forward-looking statements are detailed under "Risk
Factors" and elsewhere in filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission made from time to time by ValueClick, including, but not
limited to: its annual report on Form 10-K filed on February 26, 2010;
recent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q; and other current reports on Form
8-K.
ValueClick undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions
to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances
after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated
events.
1 Adjusted-EBITDA is defined as GAAP (Generally Accepted
Accounting Principles) net income from continuing operations before
interest, income taxes, depreciation, amortization, stock-based
compensation, and goodwill impairment charges.
SOURCE: ValueClick, Inc.
ValueClick, Inc.
Gary J. Fuges, CFA
818-575-4677