Purch Acquires AnandTech, Dominates Tech Expert and Enthusiast Market

Leading content and commerce company adds respected mobile, computing, and IT reviews site to its brand portfolio

NEW YORK, NY (December 17, 2014) – Purch today announced the acquisition of AnandTech.com, a leader in mobile, computing and IT analysis and reviews. Purch’s industry-leading combination of high-quality content and integrated commerce experiences makes complex buying decisions easy for more than 100 million consumers and professionals monthly. With the acquisition of AnandTech, Purch furthers its mission to simplify purchase decisions for in-market tech consumers by adding one of the most popular computer components, hardware, and mobile reviews sites to a brand portfolio that already includes category heavyweight, Tom’s Hardware.

AnandTech has been at the forefront of the technological evolution, providing groundbreaking reviews and trend coverage of cutting-edge mobile and computing products since Anand Shimpi, one of the tech industry’s most authoritative and respected figures, founded it in 1997 at age 14.

“AnandTech has grown by leaps and bounds over the past several years, but we were nearing what’s possible as an independent company,” said Ryan Smith, editor-in-chief, AnandTech. “The challenge has always been that there are very few players in the publishing space these days who value deep, high-quality content. We wanted a partner that understood our values, had a sound business model to ensure AnandTech’s legacy would continue for years to come, and would allow us to grow and expand our readership without compromising the quality that made us who were are today. Purch provides all of these things. I am beyond excited about what we’ll be able to do with their support.”

“The addition of AnandTech to a brand portfolio that includes Tom’s Hardware, Tom’s Guide, and Top Ten Reviews unquestionably establishes Purch as the dominant provider of in-depth, quality technology content, serving technology buyers who want to ensure the value of their potential investments,” said Greg Mason, CEO, Purch. “Technology manufacturers, too, can be assured that their messages will reach any serious buyer. The two editorial teams represent the finest, most expert group of content talent in the technology space. ”

“AnandTech represents much of my life’s work over the past 18 years,” said Anand Shimpi, founder, AnandTech. “I am happy to see it end up with a partner committed to taking good care of the brand and its readers. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

Purch offers brands and advertisers unmatched reach to tens of millions of discerning in-market tech consumers and professionals each month. These tech “enthusiasts” look to the kind of detailed research, benchmark testing, and advice from category experts during their buying process for which Tom’s Hardware and AnandTech are known. Readers trust that advice because it is backed by nearly two decades of testing every mobile and PC component imaginable, and is supported by unprecedented input and guidance from the biggest, passionate community of like-minded enthusiasts.

Purch’s acquisition of AnandTech is the company’s most recent move in a series of strategic acquisitions and partnerships aimed at furthering its mission to ease complex buying decisions for shoppers and deliver branding and performance results to advertisers. In 2013, the company acquired the renowned “Tom’s” brand of tech media sites and, earlier this year, purchased BuyerZone, the leading online marketplace for SMB buyers and sellers. Purch’s ability to trigger buying decisions in an array of product categories is evidenced by the more than 7,000 marketers and sellers that come to Purch to connect with ready-to-buy consumers. Each year, Purch’s content-commerce combination drives more than one billion dollars in commerce transactions.

In addition to the acquisition, Purch is now the number one technology publisher in the U.S., [1] with a global readership of more than 100 million monthly unique visitors.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

To find out more about Purch, visit www.purch.com or follow the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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About Purch

Purch is a portfolio of digital brands and services that helps make complex buying decisions easy for 100 million consumers monthly. Its respected sites such as Top Ten Reviews, Tom’s Guide, Tom’s Hardware, and Live Science natively integrate commerce and content in more than 1000 product categories so consumers can make better choices before, during, and after an important purchase.

The company helps marketers achieve their branding and performance objectives in a high-quality, brand-safe context. Its sites connect in-market shoppers with more than 7,000 marketers and sellers, driving industry-leading conversion rates and $1 billion in commerce transactions annually.

Purch is a high-growth, privately held company with more than 350 employees and offices across the U.S. and Europe.

For more information on Purch, visit www.purch.com or follow the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

[1] Source: comScore U.S. Media Metrix, Tech-News category ranking by unique visitors, PC audience, September 2014

AnandTech Acquired By Purch
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  • StevoLincolnite - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link

    Also, don't forget, that Wikipedia is proof of different business models working.
    It is one of the largest websites on the internet.

    And does not have a single advert.
  • FlyTexas - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link

    Wikipedia is a good example, and I donate my $35 to them every year...

    If AT ran in a similar fashion, I'd do the same...
  • TinHat - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link

    +100
  • JonnyDough - Sunday, December 28, 2014 - link

    A good product sells itself. Marketing is not necessary for economy. The business college I attended defined marketing as convincing a consumer that a want is a need. You might call it tricking, brainwashing, etc. I don't need to be marketed to and I prefer not to be. If I have a need, I will research a solution. If I have not heard of a "must-have, state-of-the-art product" then odds are I can do without it. The profits of my hard labor are not free for the taking any more than a writer's are. Your view places a writer's time above my own and because you are a writer your opinion is biased.

    I'd be fine paying for newspapers online. However, it would be nice to not have garbage printed online and a bit more accountability for so called "journalists" who never studied writing at all or know what integrity is.
  • akula2 - Thursday, December 18, 2014 - link

    AT wasn't profitable? Who said that?
  • JonnyDough - Sunday, December 28, 2014 - link

    Did you read the article? It just said that Anandtech has been very profitable as of late...
  • Klug4Pres - Thursday, December 18, 2014 - link

    That is a thing in criminal prosecutions, yes.

    However, when it comes to estimating the effect on a business of a corporate take-over, the phrase "innocent until proven guilty" can only be used metaphorically, and in that sense I would say the reverse is true - "guilty until proven innocent".

    So many businesses are destroyed by new management. Who do you think would care more about the quality of content on Anandtech, the renowned and eponymous founder, Anand Lal Shimpi, or a corporate employee whose job is to increase advertising revenues from the site?

    A lot of warm words are always uttered in circumstances such as these, but mostly they are insincere. We shall see.
  • FlyTexas - Thursday, December 18, 2014 - link

    Of course not, no time has passed... But this isn't a court of law, this isn't an innocent or guilty thing, it is just business...

    The new owners will want to cut costs, they may well have two sites and two articles, but do you really think they will want to keep paying two groups of people to run the same tests in two different locations on the same hardware?
  • JarredWalton - Thursday, December 18, 2014 - link

    The new owners want to earn money, and AnandTech has been quite profitable basically since it was created. Cutting costs is generally only needed if a business is losing money, and that's not the case at all. You can look at traffic numbers and estimate how much money AnandTech makes per month, and my bet is it's far more than enough to support everything we do and then some. But since Anand can't really own the site and do much with it (without a severe conflict of interest), he's passing it over to a group that can.
  • Klug4Pres - Thursday, December 18, 2014 - link

    Maybe it has been profitable in Anand's hands, but we don't know how much of those profits have been capitalised in the acquisition price. Nor do we understand the incentives of the new managers. Maybe the business is now highly leveraged, and the managers see a quick return from their advertising network, which they can extract in bonus payments in the next few years without caring about sustainability or quality.

    I know, Anand personally scoured the publishing World for a whole year to ensure the site would end up in safe hands, just like Tom's Hardware, oh wait...

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