Jupitermedia acquired Mediabistro for $20 million in cash and a two-year earn-out that may result in an additional $3 million. Lauren Touby, the founder of the New York-based online community Mediabistro.com, referred to the $23 million deal as "a marriage of minds and media resources."
Founded in 1999, Mediabistro is a career and community site that caters to creative professionals working in various media outlets, from advertising and broadcasting to publishing and press relations. It has grown from a tiny startup to a business boasting more than 1 million unique visitors and 6 million page views per month.
Revenue is derived from a media job board, advertising, a premium subscription service and an education department with 15,000 students. In addition, Mediabistro publishes original editorial content, including a series of topical blogs, and hosts forums and off-line events.
According to Jupitermedia CEO Alan Meckler, Mediabistro brings its new parent a diversified and fast-growing revenue stream. Existing Mediabistro offerings will benefit from additional traffic from complementary properties, which include Jupiterimages and Graphics.com, among 150 original content Web sites.
Touby, who is staying on as senior vice president, agrees. "We are so excited to be working with people who are very experienced at cross-promoting products and services across their networks and customer bases."
Jupitermedia is pursuing an aggressive acquisitions-based growth strategy. It recently secured a $115 million line of credit from KeyBanc Capital Markets to finance this and upcoming acquisitions.