INTERNET BRANDS ACQUIRES TWO LEADING CRUISE WEB SITES, CRUISEMATES.COM AND CRUISEREVIEWS.COM Acquisition Continues Internet Brands' Growth of Travel Information Sites
LOS ANGELES, (August 8, 2006) - Internet Brands, Inc., a leading operator of media and e-commerce sites for "large ticket" consumer purchases, today announced its acquisition of CruiseMates.com and CruiseReviews.com. The two sites join Internet Brands’ other travel websites, including VacationHomes.com, Vamoose.com, Wikitravel.org, World66.com, and BBOnline.com.
"These acquisitions are a continuation of our strategy to provide high quality content websites that enable consumers to research their major purchase decisions," said Bob Brisco, CEO of Internet Brands. "CruiseMates.com and CruiseReviews.com provide consumers with the most objective information available to guide their research and purchase of cruise vacations."
CruiseMates.com is one of the foremost sources of online cruise editorial. CruiseMates features articles written by its staff of long-time editors, covering current news as well as a breadth of evergreen subjects. Both sites have a depth of user reviews on cruise lines and particular ships. CruiseReviews.com also provides a breadth of information on ports and shore excursions through its sister site, PortReviews.com. Both CruiseMates and CruiseReviews have active user forums covering a full range of cruise-related topics.
In conjunction with the acquisition, Internet Brands has named site co-founder Paul Motter to be Editor of CruiseMates. “With the technical and marketing resources from Internet Brands team and the user-contributed content on CruiseReviews.com, we are ready to take these sites to the next level in the online cruise information category," said Motter. "CruiseReviews has long been one of the best resources for traveler-written reviews," said Tom Ogg, founder of CruiseReviews.com. "The combination of the well-regarded editorial content on CruiseMates will nicely round out the user experience of these sites."
About Internet Brands
Los Angeles-based Internet Brands (http://www.internetbrands.com) is a leading operator of media and e-commerce sites for cars, real estate, mortgages and travel. The company empowers consumers to make better product choices and save money. Internet Brands' sites deliver superior content and consumer insights and have received dozens of "best-in-class" awards.
The Internet Brands automotive division includes CarsDirect.com, Autos.com, GreenHybrid.com, NewCarTestDrive, Wikicars.org and Autodata Solutions. The company's real estate and finance division includes RealEstateABC.com, LoanApp.com and BestRate.com. The company's travel division includes the two leading wiki-based travel sites, Wikitravel.org and World66.com; three sites focused on alternative lodging VacationHomes.com, Vamoose.com, and BBOnline.com as well as two cruise related sites CruiseMates.com and CruiseReviews.com. Internet Brands was founded in 1998 as CarsDirect.com and added the new parent company name of Internet Brands in June 2005.
