About.com Pays $33m for a Review Site
:About.com Pays $33m for a Review Site
About.com part of the New York Times has acquired ConsumerSearch, a company that hires freelance writers for rewriting user reviews to determine the most recommended products and write catch-all reviews.
For example, Consumer Search recommends Webroot’s Spy Sweeper as the best anti-spyware software overall since it is considered as the best all-round anti-spyware program in a large number of reviews. This is because of its high detection rates and enhanced ease of use. It also recommends Kayak.com as the best travel search engine.
However paying $33 million for a review company is quite absurd considering the firm is not very popular in the market and also it currently has only six employees including the founder. Though it seems like a very helpful site and I guess it’s good to have such sites around when you are thinking of switching or trying a new product or service. The site’s content and meta-review process is something that could fit in very nicely with About.com and possibly other New York Times properties.
Over the past eight months, About.com acquired UCompareHealthCare.com, a site that provides consumers with access to quality ratings and related information on hospitals, nursing homes, mammography centers, fertility clinics and doctors, and Calorie-Count.com, a site that offers weight loss tools and nutritional information. These acquisitions demonstrate About.com’s commitment to expanding its reach, content and user resources.
