Financial services technology company Blucora completed the sale of its InfoSpace search business for $45 million in cash to email marketing company OpenMail LLC on Wednesday morning.
Founded in 1996 by Naveen Jain, InfoSpace was one of the Seattle region’s dot-com superstars, valued at more than $31 billion. But the company hit tough times during the dot-com bust, and later sold off many of its assets. The Bellevue, Wash., company survived by pivoting multiple times throughout its 20-year history. It changed its name to Blucora in 2012.
The agreement to sell the InfoSpace search business was originally announced in July as part of Blucora’s effort to focus on the financial services sector. The company bought tax preparation software maker TaxACT for $288 million in 2012 and Texas-based HD Vest for $580 million last October.
Blucora CEO John Clendening said in a statement this morning, “As evidenced by this successful transaction, we continue to make substantial progress on our key initiatives to divest, de-lever, deliver and drive value for Blucora shareholders. We are committed to the continued execution of our strategic plan to transform Blucora into a more streamlined company focused on core growth. While we have already completed important steps to strengthen the Company, there is more work to be done and we are excited about the opportunities ahead for the new Blucora.”
