Web.com Acquires Yodel to Boost Local Marketing

Web.com is set to purchase all the available shares of Yodle, closing at the end of the first quarter of 2016

Yodle, based in New York City, sells online marketing services, assisting small businesses improve their internet presence using emails, paid search advertising and search engine optimization

Headquartered in Jacksonville, Web.com supplies domains, hosting, Website design and management, search engine optimization, online marketing campaigns. This acquisition helps speed up Web.com’s position as a national provider of digital marketing to small businesses.

In the announcement, Web.com says that the move:

• Improves Web.com’s growth profile by adding higher growth revenue streams.
• Adds complementary vertical market products and expertise, office automation business applications, and a successful franchise platform serving over 9,000 locations building on Web.com’s ongoing initiatives to expand in these areas.
• Creates opportunity to up sell and cross sell across a 3.4 million subscriber base.

David L. Brown, chairman, CEO and president of Web.com, says, “The acquisition of Yodle is a natural complement to our strategy at Web.com. Value added digital marketing solutions are a large and fast growing portion of the market where Web.com has developed a differentiated set of offerings. This market segment has been a strategic focus for us for several years, and the purchase of Yodle will solidify our position as a leading national provider in this space.

“We are pleased to be gaining a company with a strong track record of developing and selling vertically focused solutions that help small businesses attract new business and retain existing customers through cloud based marketing platforms.” said Brown.

Web.com will pay $300 million initially, then $20 million at the first anniversary and $22 million on the second for 100 percent of the outstanding shares of Yodle. It will be funded with bank debt financing. Closing is expected by the end of the first quarter of 2016.

The blending of these companies should enhance local business’s experience in online marketing and sales. Yodle brings its expertise in optimizing online presence to Web.com’s web hosting business.

Yodle was founded by Nathaniel Stevens, Milind Mehere, Ben Rubenstein, Kartik Hosanagar and John Berkowitz in 2005. The company was previously called ‘NatPal’, but changed its name in 2007.

Initially, NatPal struggled until a dentist hired them. That gave them the idea to target their business to doctors, lawyers, as well as other local businesses. Changing their name to Yodle, the company grew until in 2013, Yodle was listed #28 on Forbes’s 2013 ‘America’s Most Promising Companies’ list.

Web.com started out as Micron Electronics and sold computers. After closing down its PC business and entering the website business, Micron Electronics started to acquire related businesses. It then changed its name to Interland in 2000. After changing its name to Web.com, the company continued to grow when in 2007 it merged with Website Pros in 2007.

Image: Small Business Trends

This article, "Web.com Acquires Yodel to Boost Local Marketing" was first published on Small Business Trends