In the final move toward becoming a financial services company, Blucora said Tuesday it has agreed to sell its e-commerce business Monoprice for $40 million to power cord and networking equipment maker YFC-BonEagle Electronic Co.
Monoprice was founded in 2002, and it bills itself as a discount online retailer of technology and electronics products that eliminates cost markups within the supply chain.
The sale follows an even bigger deal in July, when Blucora sold its InfoSpace search business for $45 million to email marketing company OpenMail. Founded in 1996 by Naveen Jain, InfoSpace was one of the Seattle region’s dot-com superstars. Despite hitting tough times during the dot-com bust, InfoSpace survived by pivoting multiple times throughout its 20-year history.
“This announcement marks the final step in our transformation to a financial solutions firm,” John Clendening, president and chief executive officer of Blucora, said in a statement. “We have done exactly as we said we would: earlier in the year we sold our legacy InfoSpace business and we will soon divest Monoprice. We have driven strong cash-flow performance and made terrific strides in de-levering the business.”
Blucora stock is up slightly following news of the sale.
Blucora — formerly known as InfoSpace — acquired tax preparation software maker TaxACT for $288 million in 2012 and bought Texas-based HD Vest for $580 million last October. Those acquisitions led to the change in focus to financial services.
