Internet classified ad company AdOne Classified Network
and its ClassifiedWarehouse.com
consumer Web site have been acquired by a consortium of American media
companies.
The buyers — MediaNews Group, Hearst Corp., E.W. Scripps Co., Advance
Publications Inc. and Donrey Media Group — said they are “seeking to create
the nation’s largest, locally based Internet site for online classifieds.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The partnership projects that ClassifiedWarehouse.com’s searchable classified
advertising database, which averages more than 3 million new ads per
month, will grow to more than 6 million new classifieds per month by the
end of the first half of the year.
The buyers renamed the New York City-based company as AdOne LLC.
“We are thrilled these blue-chip media companies have chosen to back our
vision of an open network composed of locally based classified advertising
from premium media properties in large, medium and small markets,” said AdOne
President and CEO Brendan Burns.
“AdOne brought together this unique group of
high-caliber traditional and new media companies because of their strong
belief in our inclusive corporate partnership philosophy.”
The consortium was brought together as a result of a commitment in the
third quarter of 1998 from MediaNews Group, as the consortium’s lead
investor, coupled with strategic initiatives completed by AdOne’s
management team during the third and fourth quarters of 1998.
Lycos Inc. will play an important role in the success of the new partnership
through its distribution agreement with AdOne and ClassifiedWarehouse.com,
the companies said.
The acquiring media consortium includes MediaNews Group, the seventh
largest newspaper company in the United States; Hearst, a diversified
communications
company; Scripps, the nation’s 10th largest newspaper publisher; Advance
Publications Inc., which publishes newspapers in 22 markets; and the
14-newspaper Donrey Media Group, a wholly owned affiliate of Stephens Group
Inc. of Little Rock, AK.
AdOne said it now has backing from four of the top 10 U.S. newspaper
companies and a leading Internet portal;, offering market penetration in 38
of the top 50 U.S. media markets. It also claims more than 350 affiliated
media properties in the top 50 U.S. media markets.
