Global information solutions company Experian has acquired Hitwise, an Internet marketing intelligence company.

Published: 19 Apr 2007

Global information solutions company Experian has acquired Hitwise, an Internet marketing intelligence company.

Hitwise helps in monitoring the performance of websites and target online advertising spend more effectively.

The purchase price is approximately $240m and will be funded from Experian’s existing cash resources. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

Don Robert, Chief Executive Officer, Experian said, “We have been successfully repositioning our Marketing Solutions business to meet our clients’ needs as they continue to switch more of their advertising spend online. Hitwise, which is a rapidly growing, successful business, brings new, unique data to Experian and complements the existing data, tools and expertise that we already offer to clients in other areas such as research services and email distribution.”

Andrew Walsh, Chief Executive Officer, Hitwise said, “Over the last 10 years, Hitwise has developed a truly unique digital intelligence service that helps inform the online marketing strategies of 1,200 clients around the world every day. We are excited to become part of Experian, having worked with them for over four years. We will now be able to accelerate Hitwise’s growth and profitability through access to Experian’s wider pool of data, tools and clients, while more quickly expanding our global footprint.”

Hitwise is expected to generate sales of approximately $40m (a year-on-year increase of about 50 percent) and a small profit. Given that the visibility of future revenue is high, Experian expects Hitwise to grow sales by more than 40 percent in the year to 31 March 2008 and generate EBIT (before amortisation of acquisition intangibles) of $12-15m.

Hitwise collects and aggregates information from Internet Service Providers (ISPs) on how over 25 million consumers use and search the Internet in the US, UK, Australia and other countries in Asia Pacific. Using proprietary technology, Hitwise reports on nearly a million websites each day and sells this information to companies who market their services online. The data allows companies to benchmark their websites against competitors in terms of visitor market share, visitor profiles and time spent on sites.