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Red Ventures is an American media company, which owns and operates brands such as
Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History Early years Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embark ...
,
CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...
,
ZDNet ZDNET is a business technology news website owned and operated by Red Ventures. The brand was founded on April 1, 1991, as a general interest technology portal from Ziff Davis and evolved into an enterprise IT-focused online publication. H ...
, The Points Guy, Healthline and
Bankrate Bankrate, LLC is a consumer financial services company based in New York City. Bankrate.com, perhaps its best-known brand, is a personal finance website. As of November 8, 2017, it became a subsidiary of Red Ventures through an acquisition. Hist ...
. Red Ventures focuses on sites that dispense news, advice, and reviews. The company's corporate headquarters is located in
Indian Land, South Carolina Indian Land is an unincorporated community in the northernmost part (the "Panhandle") of Lancaster County, South Carolina, United States. It lies east of Fort Mill, just south of Ballantyne in southern Charlotte, and west of the villages of Marv ...
, a suburb of
Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most popu ...
.


History

Red Ventures was formed on September 29, 1999, in
Fort Mill, South Carolina Fort Mill, also known as Fort Mill Township, is a town in York County, South Carolina, United States. It is a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina. As of 2020 census, 24,521 people live inside the town's corporate limits. Some businesses and resi ...
by Ric Elias and Dan Feldstein. Before its 2020 acquisitions, the company has grown into an international presence with more than 100 brands, 3,000 employees, and operations in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
and
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. In 2015, the company got a $250 million investment from Silver Lake. That same year, it doubled the size of its headquarters and bought postal services company Imagitas from Pitney Bowes. Red Ventures acquired Bankrate Inc. for $1.24 billion in cash in a deal announced July 3, 2017. On September 14, 2020, Red Ventures agreed to purchase the CNET Media Group from ViacomCBS for $500 million. On December 1, 2020, Red Ventures bought Lonely Planet from Tennessee-based NC2 Media. In 2021, the company had 4,500 employees and 751 million readers per month.


Timeline

* 1999: Red F, the precursor to Red Ventures, was founded."Staying in Red brings new life"
Charlotte Business Journal, November 2, 2007
* 2003: Red Ventures is launched, beginning with DIRECTV (DirectstarTV brand). * 2008: Red Ventures acquires Modern Consumer“Red Ventures Acquires Lead Generation Firm Modern Consumer”
Direct Magazine, June 23, 2008
* 2010: General Atlantic announces investment in Red Ventures, and Managing Director
Anton Levy Anton Levy (born October 18, 1974) is an American businessman. He is Co-President, Managing Director and head of the Global Internet and Technology sector at General Atlantic, a private equity firm based in New York City, where he has worked ...
joins the board of directors. * 2012: Red Ventures acquires www.homeinsurance.com and with it a satellite office in
Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...
. * 2015: Silver Lake announces $250M strategic investment in Red Ventures. * 2015: May - Red Ventures acquire
Imagitas
(now MyMove) from Pitney Bowes for $310M. * 2016: Red Ventures acquires Soda.com * 2017: Red Ventures acquires Choose Energy * 2017: Red Ventures acquires Allconnect * 2017: Red Ventures acquires
Bankrate Bankrate, LLC is a consumer financial services company based in New York City. Bankrate.com, perhaps its best-known brand, is a personal finance website. As of November 8, 2017, it became a subsidiary of Red Ventures through an acquisition. Hist ...
, Inc. (including The Points Guy) * 2019: Red Ventures acquires HigherEducation.com * 2019: Red Ventures acquires Healthline * 2020: Acquisition of
CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...
Media Group (including
Chowhound Chowhound (or chowhound.com) was a food website owned by Red Ventures. It ceased operations on March 28, 2022. History Chowhound was a popular online food community founded by jazz trombonist and food writer Jim Leff and Bob Okumura in 1997, kn ...
) from ViacomCBS for $500 million. * 2020: Acquisition of
Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History Early years Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embark ...
from NC2 Media for an undisclosed amount. *2021: Acquisition of Healthgrades.com from Mercury Healthcare for an undisclosed amount. *2022: Closure of Chowhound. *2022: Red Ventures partners with UnitedHealth Group's Optum Health to launch RVO Health. *2022: Fandom, Inc. acquired the sites
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
,
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
,
TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporat ...
, GameFAQs, Giant Bomb, Cord Cutters News and Comic Vine from Red Ventures.


References


External links

* {{Authority control American companies established in 2000 Privately held companies based in South Carolina Marketing companies established in 2000 Marketing companies of the United States Mass media companies established in 2000 Mass media companies of the United States Companies based in Charlotte, North Carolina Silver Lake (investment firm) companies Lancaster County, South Carolina