Online insurance-comparison service Quotesmith.com has acquired insure.com from privately held News Network LLC for $1.4 million in cash and options for 316,000 stock shares.
Insure.com is a news portal covering the insurance industry. It features a 7,500-page library of news articles. With the acquisition, Quotesmith.com, which provides online quotes for more than 300 insurance companies, now will offer quotes, news and advice on automobile, life, health and annuity insurance.
“Ownership of this acclaimed site gives us an arsenal of valuable content, a permanent new customer gateway and the potential to accelerate our acquisition of new customers,” said Robert Bland, Quotesmith's chairman.
Insure.com will keep its name and operate as a separate business unit from Quotesmith, and the editorial staff will remain at its West Hartford, CT, headquarters. The insurance news site offers advertisers advertorial opportunities, sponsorship of its interactive tools and content sections.
Quotesmith said it expects a loss of $8 million in 2001 on revenue of about $8 million. It expects to have about $17 million in cash at year-end. For 2002, Quotesmith expects a loss of less than $1 million on revenue of $10 million to $11 million.
