Local.com Nearly Doubles Local Business Customers

Local.com Corporation, a local search site and network, announced the acquisition Monday of 14,000 local business advertisers, bringing the company's total number of small business customers to about 30,000.

The Irvine, Calif.-based company will pay up to $3.1 million in cash to LiveDeal, Inc. for the local business customers. Excluding one-time acquisition-related charges, the transaction is expected to be immediately accretive. The company expects to complete the transfer of the advertiser listings in March. Merriman Curhan Ford & Co. acted as advisor to Local.com in connection with the transaction.

The acquisition moves the company closer to its stated goal of 50,000 small business customers by the end of 2009, and also increases monetization of the Local.com site and network, said Heath Clarke, Local.com chairman and CEO.

The acquired customers will pay approximately $33 per month for a Local Promote listing on Local.com and select sites. Local Promote, the company's entry-level advertising product, provides local businesses with premium placement at the top of targeted search results in specific categories and geographic regions. Customers can build their own branded Web pages--including company logos, photos, taglines, and special offer links--in addition to the standard profile-page contact information.

"This acquisition is expected to seamlessly integrate across our search and syndication platform, thereby yielding a notable margin contribution for the company," Clarke said in a statement. "We continue to look at creative ways to grow our customer base in order to further leverage the Local.com ecosystem."

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