Drkoop.com, Austin, TX, said yesterday that it has bought the assets of drDrew.com, a health and entertainment site for young people co-founded by radio and television personality Drew Pinsky of the show “Loveline.”
Drkoop.com, founded by another well-known physician, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, purchased drDrew.com from Sherwood Partners Inc., Los Angeles, for 1.58 million shares of stock and $150,000 cash. The buy expands drkoop’s user base to 2 million and will increase its reach among teen and young adult consumers, drkoop said.
Pinsky’s Web site features sex, lifestyle and health information along with a healthy dose of entertainment, including celebrity interviews and book, music and movie reviews. The site is aimed at 14- to 24-year-olds.
Pinsky, who is medical director in the department of chemical dependency services and former chief of service in the department of medicine at Las Encinas Hospital in Pasadena, CA, has co-hosted the radio show “Loveline” for 17 years. In 1996, he and his co-host, comedian Adam Carrola, began airing a televised version of the show on MTV.
The acquisition of drDrew.com comes at a time when drkoop.com is recovering from financial difficulties. In August, it laid off one-third of its 120-employee staff as part of a cost-cutting program to make the company profitable. Drkoop.com also appointed a new managerial team that month.
