Purch Acquires AnandTech, Dominates Tech Expert and Enthusiast Market
Leading content and commerce company adds respected mobile, computing, and IT reviews site to its brand portfolio
NEW YORK, NY (December 17, 2014) – Purch today announced the acquisition of AnandTech.com, a leader in mobile, computing and IT analysis and reviews. Purch’s industry-leading combination of high-quality content and integrated commerce experiences makes complex buying decisions easy for more than 100 million consumers and professionals monthly. With the acquisition of AnandTech, Purch furthers its mission to simplify purchase decisions for in-market tech consumers by adding one of the most popular computer components, hardware, and mobile reviews sites to a brand portfolio that already includes category heavyweight, Tom’s Hardware.
AnandTech has been at the forefront of the technological evolution, providing groundbreaking reviews and trend coverage of cutting-edge mobile and computing products since Anand Shimpi, one of the tech industry’s most authoritative and respected figures, founded it in 1997 at age 14.
“AnandTech has grown by leaps and bounds over the past several years, but we were nearing what’s possible as an independent company,” said Ryan Smith, editor-in-chief, AnandTech. “The challenge has always been that there are very few players in the publishing space these days who value deep, high-quality content. We wanted a partner that understood our values, had a sound business model to ensure AnandTech’s legacy would continue for years to come, and would allow us to grow and expand our readership without compromising the quality that made us who were are today. Purch provides all of these things. I am beyond excited about what we’ll be able to do with their support.”
“The addition of AnandTech to a brand portfolio that includes Tom’s Hardware, Tom’s Guide, and Top Ten Reviews unquestionably establishes Purch as the dominant provider of in-depth, quality technology content, serving technology buyers who want to ensure the value of their potential investments,” said Greg Mason, CEO, Purch. “Technology manufacturers, too, can be assured that their messages will reach any serious buyer. The two editorial teams represent the finest, most expert group of content talent in the technology space. ”
“AnandTech represents much of my life’s work over the past 18 years,” said Anand Shimpi, founder, AnandTech. “I am happy to see it end up with a partner committed to taking good care of the brand and its readers. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
Purch offers brands and advertisers unmatched reach to tens of millions of discerning in-market tech consumers and professionals each month. These tech “enthusiasts” look to the kind of detailed research, benchmark testing, and advice from category experts during their buying process for which Tom’s Hardware and AnandTech are known. Readers trust that advice because it is backed by nearly two decades of testing every mobile and PC component imaginable, and is supported by unprecedented input and guidance from the biggest, passionate community of like-minded enthusiasts.
Purch’s acquisition of AnandTech is the company’s most recent move in a series of strategic acquisitions and partnerships aimed at furthering its mission to ease complex buying decisions for shoppers and deliver branding and performance results to advertisers. In 2013, the company acquired the renowned “Tom’s” brand of tech media sites and, earlier this year, purchased BuyerZone, the leading online marketplace for SMB buyers and sellers. Purch’s ability to trigger buying decisions in an array of product categories is evidenced by the more than 7,000 marketers and sellers that come to Purch to connect with ready-to-buy consumers. Each year, Purch’s content-commerce combination drives more than one billion dollars in commerce transactions.
In addition to the acquisition, Purch is now the number one technology publisher in the U.S., [1] with a global readership of more than 100 million monthly unique visitors.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
To find out more about Purch, visit www.purch.com or follow the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
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About Purch
Purch is a portfolio of digital brands and services that helps make complex buying decisions easy for 100 million consumers monthly. Its respected sites such as Top Ten Reviews, Tom’s Guide, Tom’s Hardware, and Live Science natively integrate commerce and content in more than 1000 product categories so consumers can make better choices before, during, and after an important purchase.
The company helps marketers achieve their branding and performance objectives in a high-quality, brand-safe context. Its sites connect in-market shoppers with more than 7,000 marketers and sellers, driving industry-leading conversion rates and $1 billion in commerce transactions annually.
Purch is a high-growth, privately held company with more than 350 employees and offices across the U.S. and Europe.
For more information on Purch, visit www.purch.com or follow the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
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[1] Source: comScore U.S. Media Metrix, Tech-News category ranking by unique visitors, PC audience, September 2014
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Ryan Smith - Wednesday, December 17, 2014 - link
"There will be more content pushed at the pretense of "more eyeballs equals more ad revenue" at the expense of quality"With the preface that there is always some kind of speed/quality tradeoff in every action we take, we have not and will not intentionally pick speed and meaningfully compromise the quality of our articles. Our commitment to quality remains today as it was last week and last year. Quality is what makes you guys (our readers) come back day after day.
antialienado - Wednesday, December 17, 2014 - link
So, we will have two copies of the same information in Tomshardware and Anandtech.abhaxus - Wednesday, December 17, 2014 - link
truly sad news. Anandtech and [H] are the sites that convinced me to remove adblock from my browsers. Toms is certainly bad now content wise, but my last favorite thing is easily the annoying ads. Especially the scrolling ad that slows down you scroll speed on mobile. Infuriating.I have always respected this site, having read it since 99 or 2000. I remember when they implemented Intellitext AND LET YOU TURN IT OFF. Doubt that will happen with the new owner.
Good luck guys. Please prove us all wrong.
jwaight - Wednesday, December 17, 2014 - link
I am sad to see this. I do not want to see AnandTech become a site where a 5 page write up becomes 10 pages loaded with adds and links that make power-reading a chore not a pleasure (Tom's Hardware). In the last year or so the number of updates and posts to the site dropped off noticeably. Since Anand left, I have found few articles that drew my attention enough to read.Please write more reviews like what AnandTech was based on.
HisDivineOrder - Wednesday, December 17, 2014 - link
I remember when Voodoo Extreme and Gamespy were bought by IGN.Anandtech and Toms Hardware being owned by the same larger company reminds me of that. One is going to be dominant and the others are going to be drained from, thrash about with irrelevance, and eventually completely subsumed.
I'll remember you like I remember Sharky Extreme, Voodoo Extreme, Gamespy Online, and others. You were great once before Mobile took over your mind so much that you even mention it as your main point of interest over your bread 'n butter material.
I guess you already know that mobile is your angle now and Toms gets PC hardware, so you're playing up to that post-haste. Probably why the "Rented by AMD Cheap" section is finally gone, too?
Time for that agreement to end if you guys are going to be "The Mobile SOC Site," right? ;) Yeah, I remember when VE was going to be the "PC section" of IGN. Or when Gamespy were going to be independent...
I hope you guys aren't really believing what you're saying here. Lying to others is one thing, but lying to oneself is dangerous indeed.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 17, 2014 - link
The realities of life are that PC growth is stagnant, and very likely it will shrink in the coming years. We're well into the "fast enough" era of computing, and in another five years the trends happening now will be even more visible. Anand felt very strongly for the past couple of years that focusing purely on the PC side of things was the road to irrelevance. GPU articles still get great traffic, and so do CPU reviews, but most of our tablet reviews get far more traffic than any of our laptop reviews.We're not abandoning PCs by any means, but the problem is we haven't really had any uptake in advertising for the mobile section -- so despite much greater traffic in our mobile section, it's not really paying the bills (and then some) like it could. I don't know how much companies pay for advertising on AnandTech, but let's just say as an example that our PC content makes on average a penny per page view because there are advertisers that want ads in the "PC" section (but it would really be GPUs, CPUs, SSDs, Laptops, etc.). If the mobile section generates just as much traffic but only earns on average 0.1 cents per view, then there's likely a lot of room to improve things.
Bigger sites right now are getting the bigger advertisers, especially in mobile. They're getting sampled more hardware. That brings more traffic, which enables them to hire more people, and the cycle repeats. Mobile supports PC just like PC supports mobile, and they grow together. Hopefully we can get on that end of the cycle. That's the plan at any rate.
SunLord - Thursday, December 18, 2014 - link
Thanks for confirming I won't need to visit Anandtech anymore in the coming when I have interest in PC reviews as you're abandoning your core readers and passing them off to the shit pile that's Tom's so I'll only if I want to know about the next apple phone or SoC once every 2 yearsKristian Vättö - Thursday, December 18, 2014 - link
Jarred didn't say that we are abandoning PC reviews and the core of our readers -- in fact he said the exact opposite. The truth is that mobile presents a bigger growth opportunity for us, so like any business it's logical that we invest in it. What this means is that you will likely see more and more mobile content from us in the future, but it for sure doesn't mean that there will be a decline in quantity or quality of our PC reviews. Basically, it's just more content overall -- it isn't away from anything that we currently do.(For the record, this is just my view and interpretation of this. Ultimately any and all content strategy decisions are up to Ryan, but I for sure am sticking with the PC side and SSDs)
Ilias78 - Thursday, December 18, 2014 - link
But here is the thing. You HAVE abandoned PCs pretty much for years now. Slowly, you focused more on mobile devices and tablets a WHOLE LOT more that you should of had. Anandtech was a site that was all about PC hardware and software - and you guys were giving us less and LESS of such content as time passed on - you people just didnt care enough anymore and you went to where the money is - plain and simple. Its ALWAYS about the money. That why Anand left - Apple was probably giving him more money than what he was making from the site. Thats probably why Justic Sklavos left (one of the best PC case reviewers ever). And thats why the remaining Anandtech staff have become a bunch of sellouts. Money talks.JarredWalton - Thursday, December 18, 2014 - link
Actually, since I am on the inside on a lot of this, I can tell you that Dustin (not Justic) left for Corsair because they offered a salaried position with benefits and more pay. Vivek went to Razer for similar reasons, and Brian is at Apple again for similar reasons.If you didn't know, the paycheck of a typical hardware reviewer/journalist is not exactly monstrous -- I'm well short of six figures for example, and other than site owners I haven't ever heard of a tech journalist making that much. But a good engineer at any good tech company could definitely make in the six figure range. There are tons of other benefits (working from home, playing with the latest gadgets, doing something you enjoy, not having a rigid 8-5 work schedule), but it takes a lot of effort to live on a journalist's pay.
As far as PC vs. Mobile, again, we need both. AT started with motherboard reviews, because it was a hot topic in the 90s. These days motherboards are all reaching a level where for most users it's not a huge part of the overall experience -- most boards perform similarly, so it's just a question of what features you need. If AT hadn't evolved from motherboards, what would have happened? If we hadn't added smartphone, Apple, tablet, SoC, etc. coverage, would we still be as relevant?
But we still have Ian doing mobo reviews, so our roots haven't disappeared. We still have Ryan doing GPUs, I do laptop stuff mostly (and guides, which is basically where I started), Kristian is on SSDs -- all PC stuff. Josh, Andrei, and Brett are more mobile focused, and we'll probably add people to that segment over the coming months, but that takes time.