AltaVista Co. Monday purchased online investment community Raging Bull.
AltaVista, the premier media and commerce network and a majority-owned
operating company of CMGI Inc. (CMGI) will acquire the portal through a stock exchange. Specific details were not disclosed. CMGI already had a minority stake in Raging Bull.
According to October Media Metrix data, this combination will move the
AltaVista Network into the ninth largest network in terms of total page
views, surpassing Amazon.com (AMZN)
and Time-Warner Inc. AltaVista is a global Top 10 Internet network with
more than 40 million unique users and 1.6 billion page views worldwide in
October.
Raging Bull has more than 1.7 million unique users who participate in
almost 10,000 dynamic discussion boards.
Raging Bull users are savvy investors that actively contribute to the
Raging Bull community, seeking and sharing business and financial
information previously reserved for investment professionals. Media Metrix
recently ranked Raging Bull as the second “stickiest” financial site used
at work and third “stickiest” financial site used at home. Users spend an
average of more than 20 minutes per visit, according to I/PRO audited numbers.
CMGI said Raging Bull has tripled its membership since April and now boasts
nearly 5 million daily posts on nearly 10,000 dynamic message boards.
Internal traffic measures more than six million page views each trading day.
Users of AltaVista and Raging Bull will benefit from the integration of
services and the active exchange of investing ideas and informed opinions.
Raging Bull will maintain its Web site while fully integrating its complete
content offering into the AltaVista Live! Money channel, which is the first
channel to debut on the recently unveiled AltaVista Network.
AltaVista and Raging Bull plan to unveil their combined offerings
throughout next year, but said they plan to offer content and community
services in addition to financial services.
“We are thrilled to cement this relationship with AltaVista, a site that
has quickly become one of the fastest growing and most recognized consumer
destinations on the Internet,” said Stephen Killeen, Raging Bull’s
president and chief executive officer.
“We believe the combination of both companies will supercharge AltaVista’s
already meteoric growth and provide users the best one-stop resource for
financial content, community and discussion on the Internet.”
