Online health-information companies Waterfront Media and Revolution LLC's Revolution Health Network agreed to merge in a deal that could potentially threaten WebMD Health Corp.'s No. 1 spot.The private companies -- which expect more than 20 million unique users and three billion pages views a year as a combined company -- said Waterfront Media's Everyday Health Network will now include RevolutionHealth.com and all of its online properties, totaling 24 Web sites. The company will operate under the name Waterfront Media.
In August, WebMD reported it had 48.4 million unique users per month and a total traffic of 1.1 billion page views during the second quarter, increases of 20% and 24%, respectively, from a year ago. WebMD agreed in February to merge with HLTH Corp., which owns 84% of WebMD.
Waterfront Media Chief Executive and co-founder Benjamin Wolin will be chief executive officer of the combined company, while Revolution Health Chairman and CEO Steve Case -- co-founder of AOL -- will join the Waterfront Media board along with another board member from Revolution Media.
Doug McCormick, former CEO of Lifetime TV and iVillage, will remain Waterfront's chairman, while Mike Keriakos will remain president.
Financial terms of the deal -- which is expected to close by mid-October -- weren't disclosed.
Waterfront Media was founded in 2002, and its network of more than 20 sites includes EverydayHealth.com, WhatToExpect.com and SouthBeachDiet.com. Revolution Health, which launched in 2007, operates sites such as RevolutionHealth.com, HealthTalk.com and CarePages.com.
Revolution LLC was created by Case, the co-founder of AOL, which became known as Time Warner Inc. after the Internet-service provider bought the media giant at the height of the Internet bubble. Time Warner has been exploring ways to unload AOL, whose network advertising has slowed in recent months.
By: Shara Tibken
Wall Street Journal; October 6, 2008
