Discovery looks to Web with $250M deal
Jeff Smith, Rocky Mountain News
Published October 15, 2007 at midnight
Discovery Communications today agreed to acquire HowStuffWorks.com for a reported $250 million, in a move to strengthen the link between its cable TV properties and the Internet.
Discovery Communications, which operates Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, is two-thirds owned by Douglas County-based Discovery Holding Inc., which is controlled by John Malone. Advance/Newhouse Communications owns the other third of Discovery Communications.
HowStuffWorks says it has 11 million unique visitors globally each month. The site describes and shows how things work ranging from lightning to hybrid cars. The number of visitors has increased 25 percent since last year, when Time magazine ranked it one of "25 Websites We Can't Live Without."
"The HowStuffWorks acquisition is a strategic bull's-eye for Discovery," David Zaslav, Discovery CEO, said in a statement. He said the acquisition will give Discovery a platform for creating new user experiences.
Jeff Arnold, who will continue as CEO of HowStuffWorks, said the site will be able to add video clips from Discovery's extensive library of more than 100,000 hours of programming. HowStuffWorks.com's owners include investor Carl Icahn.
It was unclear whether investors thought the price was right,
however. Discovery shares were down 2.4 percent to $28.07 by early
afternoon.
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