WhaleShark Media Acquires RetailMeNot.com

AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 2, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- WhaleShark Media, Inc. – the world's leading online coupon and deals marketplace – today announced its acquisition of RetailMeNot.com (www.retailmenot.com).  Welcoming more than 95 million unique visitors per year, RetailMeNot.com is the most visited online coupon site in the world.

With the acquisition of RetailMeNot.com, WhaleShark Media takes a major step forward for consumers who want to save money when they shop online and for merchants who want to increase their sales. "We're dedicated to revolutionizing online shopping by giving deal-seekers the easiest-to-use, most reliable, comprehensive and up-to-date information about deals and discounts available online," says Cotter Cunningham, chief executive officer of WhaleShark Media.  "In just four days from Black Friday to Cyber Monday this year, WhaleShark Media sites (including RetailMeNot.com) drove record traffic with more than 6 million visits combined.  This underscores the increased importance of online discounts in the broader e-commerce ecosystem."

The leading investment firms Austin Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and Adams Street Partners provided financing for the transaction.  The terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

"This acquisition moves WhaleShark Media to the front of the pack in the growing B2C online coupon space," says Jeff Crowe, general partner at Norwest Venture Partners.  "WhaleShark Media is positioned to capitalize on two key online trends: first, consumers are increasingly turning to the web to save money when they shop; and second, online merchants are beginning to realize just how effective it is to market their coupons through high quality publishers like RetailMeNot.com."  As a part of the financing, Jeff Crowe and Josh Goldman, general partners at NVP, have joined WhaleShark Media's board of directors.

RetailMeNot.com lists and ranks online retail, grocery and printable coupons and shopping tips from more than 70,000 merchants, restaurants and brands. Launched in 2007, RetailMeNot.com was the first coupon website to enable consumers to share, vote on and comment on coupons. RetailMeNot.com's millions of users scour the web to find the best coupons to benefit its community of savers.  Each coupon is ordered by its usefulness as determined by the community and every store is categorized and ordered by its popularity within that category. Users ensure that the latest and best deals quickly rise to the top and the expired and least compelling coupons quickly drop down the list.  

"We are thrilled to introduce the benefits of RetailMeNot.com's unique community-driven model to WhaleShark Media's consumers and merchant partners and add them to our growing portfolio of deals and savings-related sites," says Thomas Ball, partner at Austin Ventures and the original investor in WhaleShark Media.

"We're excited for RetailMeNot.com to gain access to the talent, platform and partners of WhaleShark Media," says Guy King, co-founder of RetailMeNot.com. "With these resources we will be able to provide consumers with an even greater range of coupons while maintaining our focus on offering the best possible user experience for our community."

Stifel Nicolaus Weisel was the exclusive financial advisor and agent to WhaleShark Media for the acquisition and financing of RetailMeNot.com.  DLA Piper was the legal advisor to WhaleShark Media for the acquisition.  

For inquiries, please contact [email protected]

About WhaleShark Media

WhaleShark Media, Inc. is the world's leading marketplace for coupons and deals.  The company's websites connect consumers seeking savings with discounts from more than 70,000 top merchants, stores, and retailers.  WhaleShark Media welcomes more than 100 million unique visitors to shop its sites every year.  The WhaleShark Media portfolio of coupon and deal websites includes www.RetailMeNot.com - the most highly-trafficked online coupon site in the United States, www.Deals.com, www.Deals2Buy.com, www.CheapStingyBargains.com, www.CouponSeven.com and www.CouponShare.com.   WhaleShark Media is a fast-growing, profitable company funded by venture capital firms Austin Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and Adams Street Partners and is based in Austin, TX.

whalesharkmedia.com

About Austin Ventures

Austin Ventures ("AV") has worked with talented entrepreneurs to build valuable companies for over twenty-five years. With $3.9 billion under management, AV is the most active venture capital and growth equity firm in Texas and one of the most established in the nation. With an investment focus on business services and supply chain, financial services, new media, Internet and information services, software, and Texas special situations, AV invests at all stages of company development, from $100,000 in "planned experiments" in early stage ideas to $100+ million investments in expansion rounds, minority recapitalizations, and buyouts of lower middle market growth companies. AV's strategy is to partner with talented executives and entrepreneurs through its CEO-in-Residence and Entrepreneur-in-Residence programs. Visit Austin Ventures for more information.

austinventures.com

About Norwest Venture Partners

Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) is a leading global investment firm that manages more than $3.7 billion in capital. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, NVP has subsidiaries in Mumbai and Bengaluru, India and Herzelia, Israel. NVP makes early to late stage venture and growth equity investments in U.S. and global companies across a wide range of sectors including: information technology, business services, financial services, infrastructure, technology enabled services and consumer. NVP has actively partnered with entrepreneurs to build great businesses for more than 49 years and has funded nearly 500 companies since inception.

nvp.com

About Adams Street Partners

Adams Street Partners is one of the largest managers of private equity investments in the world. Together with its predecessor organizations, Adams Street Partners has been investing in private equity since 1972. Adams Street manages direct private equity investments as well as primary and secondary partnership investments. With offices in Chicago, London, Menlo Park and Singapore, the Firm currently has 110 employees and over $20 billion of assets under management. For more information, visit adamsstreetpartners.com

SOURCE WhaleShark Media, Inc.