Looking to broaden its offerings, women’s online community iVillage Inc. Thursday acquired Online Psychological Services Inc. for $25 million worth of cash and stock.
iVillage will pay $1.5 million in cash and $23.5 million in iVillage common stock. The company’s Online Psych mental health Web site features articles and discussion forums covering many aspects of mental health, as well as a therapist database.
“iVillage.com is now poised to address an area of the health industry that represents
approximately 11 percent of total personal health care expenditures,” said D. Stephenson
Bond, vice president of Integrated Health and founder of Online Psych.
According to reseach firm Jupiter Communications, women in the U.S. make 80 percent of
health care-related decisions.
The purchase is in line with iVillage’s strategy to provide comprehensive services to women, said Candice Carpenter, iVillage CEO and co-founder.
“Adding best-of-category mental health services and information to our existing array of health-related resources is an important step forward in iVillage.com’s health strategy and continues to deliver
excellence to our members in this content area – one of the most popular on the Web,” she said.
