US media company Scripps acquires uSwitch |
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Fri, 17 Mar 2006 16:45
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LONDON: U.S. media group E.W. Scripps Co. has bought price comparison website uSwitch.com for 210 million pounds. Founded by a group of private investors following the deregulation of the energy sector in the U.K., uSwitch offers price comparison and switching service for consumers wanting to change their gas, electricity, credit cards and loans providers.
While it offers the price comparison as a free service, it levies a commission on customers availing of its online services to switch service providers. The company had revenue of 14 million pounds in 2005 and it had recently undertaken a strategic review to decide on a sale or an alignment with a partner or a stock market float. It owns upmystreet.com, an information website.
Scripps, the Cincinnati, Ohio-headquartered publishing and cable television network company, had recently acquired Shopzilla, an online service helping shoppers to find, compare and buy products, for $525 million.
The company intends to combine the strengths of the two to create an effective interactive media service. It said half of future revenue growth from uSwitch will come from categories besides energy.
uSwitch's chief executive, Andrew Salmon, will continue with the company.
Scripps runs several national cable networks, brings out newspapers and manages broadcast television stations, electronic commerce, interactive media and licensing and syndication. Its cable networks include HGTV, Food Network, DIY and Fine Living.
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