Journal cyranoVR's Journal: I'M RICH, BEOTCH 5
WSJ: Veronis Buys Stake in Vault.com
By DANA CIMILLUCA
September 25, 2007; Page A15
Vault.com Inc. announced today a majority investment by private-equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson. The investment values the online job-and-education information service at between $60 million and $85 million, people familiar with the matter say. Full terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
Vault.com is an 11-year-old Web site that provides surveys and other information about colleges and universities, employers and occupations such as investment banking and consulting. The company also contains a network of message boards for young professionals, and features job postings. Much of its revenue comes from advertising.
Veronis Suhler is hoping to speed up Vault.com's growth in part through acquisitions, a mainstay of Veronis's investing strategy. Sales growth at Vault.com is already running at 30% to 50% a year, and its backers say it makes a profit, though they wouldn't specify how much. The play for New York-based Veronis may be to nurture Vault for a few years until it can be sold to a major media or information company. These companies are hungry for online investing opportunities, and are often willing to pay high prices for the access.
"We started the category 11 years ago, and it's just starting to burgeon," said Samer Hamadeh, who founded the company with his Stanford University classmate, Mark Oldman, and his brother, Hussam Hamadeh.
The coming wave of baby-boomer retirement poses a "huge challenge" for corporate America, which Vault.com hopes to help it tackle, said Veronis Suhler Managing Director Trent Hickman.
Erik Sorenson, the former president of television channel MSNBC, and Ledgemont Capital are joining in the investment. All of Vault.com's founders, who have previously provided its funding, will remain shareholders and stay with the company, as will other senior executives. Mr. Sorenson will become chief executive.
"We're aiming to make this a broader, more widely attractive place for people to visit," he said.
Although Veronis began discussions on the investment last year, the investment is the kind that may become increasingly popular in a world where credit is tougher to come by and large buyout deals are scarce. New investments are expected to be smaller and employ less borrowed money, at least for now.
The 54 "platform" companies that Veronis has invested in over the past 20 years have done more than 230 add-on acquisitions.
Vault.com also sells premium packages of information to institutions and individuals. "The world is getting very competitive when it comes to the top jobs and to admission to the top universities and graduate schools," Mr. Hamadeh said.
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