Not even health oriented online media is immune to consolidation. A company called Internet Brands, controlled by KKR, has recently announced intentions to acquire WebMD. KKR owns several other business to business websites in the areas of travel, law and automotive. It is a deal that has apparently been long in the making taking several bids for the acquisition to be accomplished.
WebMD is a well know health information website. It was founded in 1996 and became a public nearly a decade later. The Internet Brands business model involves helping health related businesses find customers. It also exists to help the public find appropriate health care. WebMD will note be a part of that process.
The move to further monetize WebMD is being looked at as a positive for everyone involved. Bob Briscoe, of Internet Brands, said in a statement that they "look forward to delivering that resource to even more users" . Previously WebMD was primarily a website for consumers to find information about health issues, a very popular website garnering a lot of traffic. The amount of traffic to the website makes this an obvious liaison to marry patients to proper healthcare professionals. Steven L. Sets, M.D., the CEO of WebMD, further solidified the positive statements expressing his gratitude and appreciation to all employees for the hard work and dedication demonstrated.
Internet Brands has acquired several other business in its quest to expand its business model to have a global presence in several aspects of healthcare. This has been demonstrated by the acquiring of Intuits health care based marketing automation business Demandforce. It is no doubt a new chapter for the website WebMD.
KKR to Buy WebMD for $2.8 Billion