Business.com is up for sale, and the pricetag is rumored to reach $400 million. In case you're not familiar Business.com, it's a web directory based on business topics. Users can search for business related information with results coming primarily from paid advertising sources. 
Business.com has grown significantly since it was started in 1999 and reported a $15 million revenue last year. In April, they published a press release stating that their traffic increased by 50% during the first quarter of 2007 compared to the first quarter of 2006. To put that growth into perspective, Business.com had 20.1 million visits in the first quarter of 2007 versus 13.3 million visits during the same period in 2006.
Business.com attributes that growth to a shift in people's behaviors. They claim that more and more key business decision makers are turning to "business-only" websites to find the products and services they need quickly and easily. Business.com cuts through the extraneous search results providing targeted, business-related content.
As a result of Business.com's growth, business-to-business advertisers are jumping on board to take advantage of the targeted audience exposure their ads will receive on the site. It's a perfect place to reach a large number of pre-qualified leads around the world.
Advertisers are banking on generating business by reaching the right people who are going to respond to their ads when they invest their advertising budgets in Business.com. According to Nielsen/NetRatings @Plan from a spring 2007 report, their ads will have a strong likelihood of success. According to the study, Business.com can boast the following statistics:
- 1st among users purchasing office supplies online
- 2nd among users purchasing business/office equipment online or offline
- 3rd among entrepreneurs planning to start a business
- 4th among U.S. business sites in attracting users from corporate senior management
It seems that Business.com's growth curve is still in the early stages. Speculation is running rampant as to who prime contenders are to purchase Business.com with names like Yahoo! reaching the top of the list.
On the flipside, many people question the usefulness of Business.com criticizing the site for stuffing results with the same information users can find through a Google search. Others ask if anyone really uses Business.com. According to their April press release, the site got over 20 million hits during the first quarter, but the interesting data would be the conversion rates on paid advertising. Do you know anyone who uses Business.com? From another angle, people are questioning the pricetag. Is Business.com worth $400 million or would the better strategy be to build another site offering similar utility in an even better way?
What do you think about Business.com and the $400 million pricetag?
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