Answers.com

Answers Corporation
The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions.
Type of business Private
Type of site
 Question & Answer
Available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Tagalog
Founded 1999 (1999) (as GuruNet)
Headquarters St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Owner Apax Partners
Founder(s) Bob Rosenschein, Mark Tebbe
Industry Internet
Website www.answers.com
Alexa rank Negative increase 4,279 (September 2018)[1]
Launched January 2005 (2005-01)
Current status Active

Answers.com is an Internet-based knowledge exchange, which includes WikiAnswers. The Answers.com domain name was purchased by entrepreneurs Bill Gross and Henrik Jones at idealab in 1996.[2] The domain name was acquired by NetShepard and subsequently sold to GuruNet. The website is the primary product of the Answers Corporation (previously GuruNet), an Internet reference and Q&A company, founded by Bob Rosenschein, Mark Tebbe and Mort Meyerson in 1999. The site supports English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Tagalog. WikiAnswers is a community-generated social knowledge Q&A platform, using wiki-based technologies.[3]

History

GuruNet was founded in Jerusalem, Israel, in 1999 to develop technology that intelligently and automatically integrates and retrieves information from disparate sources and delivers the result in a single consolidated view to the user. GuruNet initially displayed its information through a downloadable software product, today known as 1-Click Answers. The product was launched as a free product in 1999. Beginning in 2003 it was sold to users on a perpetual license base and later as an annual subscription.[4]

On October 2004 GuruNet had an IPO on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) under the symbol "GRU" and also acquired the Answers.com domain name early the same year for $80,000.[5]

On January 2005 the company moved to a new business model of a free-to-customer product, Answers.com and 1-Click Answers software, containing practically all the content that was sold via subscriptions. The new model is based on generating advertising revenue.[4]

On August 2, 2005, the company's shares started trading on NASDAQ instead of AMEX under the symbol "ANSW".[5]

On October 17, 2005, GuruNet changed its corporate name to Answers Corporation, unifying the company's name and its website, Answers.com.[5]

From 2005 to late 2009, the Google search engine definitions feature, in the top-right corner of the site, was linked to Answers.com.

On July 2, 2006, Answers.com released a trivia game known as blufr.

In the fall of 2009, Answers.com launched a revamped version of their website, which combined wiki-style contributions with expert resources.[6]

At Jeff Pulver's 140 Characters Conference in New York City in April 2010, Answers.com launched its alpha version of a Twitter-answering service nicknamed 'Hoopoe.' When tweeting a question to the site's official Twitter account, @AnswersDotCom, an automatic reply is given with a snippet of answer and a link to the full answer page on Answers.com.[7]

Aside from providing community-generated Q&A and reference information for published titles, Answers.com began offering videos as part of its VideoAnswers library, in July 2010. This was part of a partnership with video site 5min.[8]

In September 2010, blufr was relaunched as an iPhone/iPod Touch app with new design, game modes, and social features.[9]

It was announced in November 2010 that the Answers.com Q&A wiki community reached its 10 millionth answer.[10]

At the start of 2011, the site surpassed 11 million answers. Shortly after, on February 3, Answers.com announced in a press release that it had agreed to be acquired by AFCV Holdings for $127 million in cash. AFCV Holdings, LLC, is a portfolio company of growth equity investor Summit Partners. Bob Rosenschein was quoted: "The acquisition price of $10.50 per share represents a significant cash premium of approximately 33% over our 90-day volume-weighted average closing stock price."[11][12][13]

On April 23, 2012 TA Associates announced that it was joining as an additional private investor in Answers.com and on May 1, 2012 laid off the remaining development staff in the Jerusalem office as a first step in fully assimilating the company.[14]

On August 8, 2012, reports surfaced that Answers.com had reached a preliminary agreement to acquire About.com from The New York Times Company for $270 million of debt and equity.[15] However, it was thwarted by IAC, who countered with a $300 million "clean cash" offer.[16]

On December 23, 2013 Answers.com acquired ForeSee Results, Inc., a customer experience & customer survey analytics company based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.[17] Answers.com proceeded to lay off between 50 and 75 employees one month after the acquisition, followed by another 100 laysoffs 18 months later.[18]

In August 2014, Apax Partners acquired Answers Corp. for $900 million. The terms of the deal were that Apax would own 91% of the company while Answers’ founders and management team will own the remaining 9% stake.[19]

In March 2017, Answers.com parent company, Answers Corp, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[20]

As of May 3, 2018, Answers.com abandoned their wiki format, according to Chris Hawkins, Vice President, Business Operations. The entire user database was purged, and users can no longer edit questions or answers on the site.[21]

References

  1. ↑ "Answers.com Traffic, Demographics and Competitors - Alexa". www.alexa.com. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  2. ↑ "Answers.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools". domaintools.com. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
  3. ↑ "Company Overview". Answers.com.
  4. 1 2 "GuruNet Corporation 2005 Annual Report". ir.answers.com. Archived from the original on August 20, 2007.
  5. 1 2 3 Festa, Paul (January 3, 2005). "GuruNet launches new search service". CNET News. Retrieved 2010-05-13.
  6. ↑ "New Answers.com Launches First Site to Combine Community with Hundreds of Editorial Resources under One Roof". businesswire.com.
  7. ↑ "Answers.com Starts Answering Questions On Twitter". techcrunch.com.
  8. ↑ "Exclusive: Answers.com Gets 200,000 Video Answers From 5Min". techcrunch.com.
  9. ↑ Ronny Kerr (2010-10-05). "Answers.com launches blufr, social trivia". VatorNews. Retrieved 2017-12-25.
  10. ↑ "Answers.com Hits 10 Millionth Answer, Launches Its First iPhone App (blufr)". techcrunch.com.
  11. ↑ "Answers.com Agrees to be Acquired for $127 Million in Cash: $10.50 per Share". ir.answers.com. Archived from the original on February 5, 2011.
  12. ↑ "Q&A Site Answers.com Acquired By AFCV Holdings For $127 Million In Cash". techcrunch.com.
  13. ↑ "Answers.com Acquired For $127 Million". searchengineland.com.
  14. ↑ "Answers Expands Knowledge Leadership Across the Web, Mobile and Social Platforms". ta.com.
  15. ↑ Kafka, Peter. "The New York Times Is About to Say Goodbye to About.com". All Things Digital. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  16. ↑ "Barry Diller Shows Up Late, Gets What He Wants: IAC to Buy About.com From New York Times for $300 Million". All Things Digital. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  17. ↑ "Answers Corporation Announces Acquisition of ForeSee Results, Inc. to Provide a Complete Customer Life Cycle Solution". Archived from the original on 2016-03-13.
  18. ↑ Matt Durr (July 9, 2015). "ForeSee parent company lays off nearly 100 employees in 2nd round of cuts". mlive.
  19. ↑ "Answers acquisition said to be worth $900 million". St. Louis Business Journal. 2014-09-18. Retrieved 2018-02-06.
  20. ↑ "Answers Corp files for bankruptcy to cut $471 million in debt". Reuters. 2017-03-03. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  21. ↑ Glaser, April (May 3, 2018). "Answers.com Will No Longer Take Questions and Answers". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
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