Experian has announced that it has purchased Hitwise for $240 million. With the purchase Experian hopes to offer their clients more value by leveraging the data Hitwise collects from Web sites and online consumers.
Hitwise was founded in 1998 and has over 1,200 clients in numerous areas such as financial services, media, travel and retail.
Don Robert, Chief Executive Officer of Experian, commented: ” We have been successfully repositioning our Marketing Solutions business to meet our clients’ needs as they continue to switch more of their advertising spend online.”
” Hitwise, which is a rapidly growing, successful business, brings new, unique data to Experian and complements the existing data, tools and expertise that we already offer to clients in other areas such as research services and email distribution.”
Experian believes that Hitwise has a solid financial model noting that their revenue is predictable as clients pay license fees in advance and they are able to maintain a high level of customer retention.
Over the past year, Hitwise sales increased 50 percent to $40 million and they saw a small profit. Experian believes that Hitwise will increase sales by more than 40 percent in the coming year.
Andrew Walsh, Chief Executive Officer of Hitwise, said:”Over the last 10 years, Hitwise has developed a truly unique digital intelligence service that helps inform the online marketing strategies of 1,200 clients around the world every day.”
“We are excited to become part of Experian, having worked with them for over four years. We will now be able to accelerate Hitwise’s growth and profitability through access to Experian’s wider pool of data, tools and clients, while more quickly expanding our global footprint.”
