New York Times agrees to acquire About.com from Primedia.The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Company (New York) will acquire About.com (New York), an online cumsumer information provider, from Primedia (New York) in a cash deal valued at approximately $410 million. The deal is expected to close within the next two to three months. About.com operates a network of 500 web sites whose content is produced by experts (guides) in a wide variety of fields and interests, from personal finances to consumer electronics to history and geography. The sites have an audience of 22 million unique visitors A count of how many different people access a Web site. For example, if a user leaves and comes back to the site five times during the measurement period, that person is counted as one unique visitor, but would count as five "user sessions. each month. The company says it has the largest archive of content on the Internet. About.com was established in 1996 and completed an IPO (Initial Public Offering) The first time a company offers shares of stock to the public. While not a computer term per se, many founders, employees and insiders of computer companies have found this acronym more exciting than any tech term they ever heard. in 1999. It was acquired by Primedia in October 2000 for 45.2 million shares of Primedia common stock. A share of Primedia common stock cost $15.25 on the day the deal was announced ($690 million deal value). New York Times said the current purchase price of $410 million reflects a multiple of 10x About.com's 2004 revenues and a multiple of over 30x About.com's 2004 segment earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation EBITD is an initialism or acronym for Earnings Before Interest, Taxes and Depreciation. See EBITDA. Some people find it useful to know this value for a business. (EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) A metric used to show a company's profitability, but not its cash flow. EBITDA became popular in the 1980s to show the potential profitability of leveraged buyouts, but has become ). Based on Times Company projections, the price reflects a 23x estimated 2005 EBITDA. New York Times Company operates about 40 web sites, including NYTimes.com and Boston.com. The company said that About.com will operate as its own distinct business division. The deal "furthers strengthens our strategy of delivering news and information to local and national audiences with multiple media products," NYT NYT New York Times NYT National Youth Theatre (UK) NYT New York Transit (New York, USA) NYT New York Tribune said. |
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