NYTCO To Sell About.com
Confirming earlier reports, The New York Times Company on Wednesday said it is ready to sell About.com, and is already engaged in discussions with potential buyers.
“No
definitive agreement has been reached,” a New York Times Co. representative said. “The negotiations are ongoing, and there can be no assurances that an agreement will be reached or that a
transaction will be completed.”
Earlier on Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal’s AllThingsD blog reported that the Times Co. was nearing a deal to sell About.com
to Answers.com for around $270 million. A Times Co. representative would not comment on the report, or address specific sale discussions.
Times Co. bought About for $410 million in
2005. The site is powered by freelancers who produce stories and how-to videos on a range of topics. It is widely recognized as the forefather of “content farms” like Demand Media.
Recently, however, the site has struggled. Last month, Times Co. took a $195 million writedown of About.com, while in its latest earnings release, the company said that About
Group’s revenue declined 8.7% to $25 million.
About.com’s falling fortunes are largely attributed to a drop in display and cost-per-click advertising.
A sale of
About.com would also be consistent with Times Co.’s broader efforts to streamline business operations. The company recently sold its stakes in the Fenway Sports Group, owner of the Boston Red
Sox, and took a major writedown last year on its Regional Media Group before -- selling the newspaper group to Halifax Media Holdings in January of this year for $143 million.
Founded in 1998, Answers.com emerged as a plug-in for Internet Explorer. The business morphed into a reference answers site, combining more than 250 data sources to help users find information on
reference topics, including non-digitized sources.
More recently, Answers has sought to build out social, personalized and ad services on desktop and mobile, based partly on a
minority investment made by TA Associates, the global growth private-equity firm.
TA Associates and Summit Partners -- which also backs Answers.com -- are currently trying to secure the
financing necessary to acquire About.com, AllThingsD reported.
Recent Online Media Daily Articles
-
New Stanford Initiative Helps Browser Developers Refine Cookie-Blocking June 19, 7:35 p.m.
Privacy advocates at Stanford on Tuesday unveiled a new initiative that could pave the way for ... -
Facebook Aims To Simplify Page Analytics June 19, 5:52 p.m.
In its latest step to simplify advertising and marketing on Facebook, the company on Wednesday announced ... -
Powley Tapped As iCrossing CEO June 19, 5:32 p.m.
Catching agency watchers off guard, Don Scales is stepping down as CEO of iCrossing, effective immediately.Stepping ... -
Twitter Gets Social With Viacom June 19, 5:21 p.m.
Twitter took another step Wednesday toward supporting television. The social-media company signed a partnership with Viacom ... -
Digital, Alternative Media Revs Forecast To Hit $436B By 2017 June 19, 3:01 p.m.
Various types of mobile marketing and advertising accounted for nine of the top 10 fastest-growing digital ... -
Acquisitions Flourish, Google To Seek Equity Firm To Further Deals June 19, 1:24 p.m.
Google is considering alliances with private-equity firms to help structure acquisition deals, but the tech company ... -
Millennial Expands Video Ad Options June 19, 11:44 a.m.
Mobile ad network Millennial Media is stepping up its video ad offerings with the launch of ... -
CIMM Issues Request For Data, Cross-Platform Metrics June 19, 9:29 a.m.
The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) said it has issued a request for proposals involving ... -
Heads Or Tails: Facebook Grows A Long One, Surpasses 1 Million Advertisers June 19, 7:48 a.m.
Facebook has reached an important ad industry milestone, becoming one of the few mega platforms to ... -
Consumer Action: Most Web Users Want Control Over Tracking June 18, 8:20 p.m.
Most Web users have expectations about privacy that appear to be at odds with current practices ...
Be the first to comment on "NYTCO To Sell About.com"
Leave a Comment