Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Business.com Acquired By Resource Nation, With JMI Backing
San Diego-based Resource Nation, an online business-to-business marketing provider, has acquired the brand name, domain, and assets of Business.com, the firm announced today. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed, however, the firm said that private equity firm JMI Equity has provided it funding in support of the transaction. JMI Equity General Partner Peter Arrowsmith and Vice President David Greenberg have joined Resource Nation's board as part of the acquisition. Resource Nation said that it would retain a number of current and former Business.com sales and account managers, as well as other key employees as part of the buy. Business.com was run out of offices in Santa Monica.
Business.com had faced the prospect of a shutdown since November, since owner Dex One said it would close up the business because it was "no longer viable." The shutdown plans came despite Dex One (then R.H. Donnelley) paying $345M from Business.com four years ago. At the time, the acquisition was another huge win for Southern California entrepreneur Jake Weinbaum, as well as investors eCompanies, Benchmark Capital, Cahners Business Information, Financial Times Group, Industryclick, Institutional Venture Partners, and McGraw-Hill. Business.com was also known for its record breaking purchase of the Business.com domain name, for $7.5M, in 1999.