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Bankrate

From Alfawiki
Bankrate, LLC
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryConsumer financial services
Founded1976
FounderRobert K. Heady
Headquarters
New York City
,
United States
Key people
Kenneth S. Esterow (CEO, since January 2014)
ProductsBankrate.com, CreditCards.com, Caring.com, Interest.com, Mortgage-calc.com, ThePointsGuy.com
ParentRed Ventures

Bankrate, LLC operates as a consumer financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Its leading brand, Bankrate.com, stands out as a major personal finance platform. Since its acquisition on November 8, 2017, Bankrate has functioned as a subsidiary of Red Ventures.[1] The website incorporates AI-generated material, which has raised questions about its reliability.[2]

History

Established in 1976 by Robert K. Heady initially as a print publisher of the "Bank Rate Monitor," Bankrate made the shift to an online presence in 1996.[3] Its digital assets now encompass Bankrate.com, CreditCards.com, Caring.com, Interest.com, Mortgage-calc.com, ThePointsGuy.com, among others, collectively drawing over 150 million visitors in 2010.[3]

Bankrate grew through several acquisitions including Trouve Media (2011), assets from InsWeb Corporation for $65 million (2011), and InsuranceAgents.com (2012).[4] After spending ten years publicly traded on NASDAQ, it was purchased by Apax Partners in 2009 for roughly $571 million.[5]

In June 2011, the company secured $300 million via an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.[6] Later that year, in December 2011, it issued a secondary offering of 12.5 million shares at $17.50 per share.[7]

The firm acquired travel-related site The Points Guy in 2012 and purchased Caring.com for $54 million in 2014.[8] Kenneth S. Esterow assumed the role of CEO in January 2014 after his tenure as COO.[9]

In November 2017, Red Ventures completed its $1.24 billion acquisition of Bankrate.[10] By January 2018, Bankrate had expanded into the UK market with dedicated editorial and commercial teams under Sebastian Anthony’s leadership.[11]

September 2018 saw former CFO Edward J. DiMaria convicted of accounting and securities fraud that resulted in shareholder losses exceeding $25 million; he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment with restitution required. Additionally, former VP of finance Hyunjin Lerner pleaded guilty and received a five-year sentence.[12]

Products and Services

From its origins, Bankrate has offered interest rate data. Beginning in 2004, it broadened its offerings to include financial education resources, insurance quotes, and credit card promotions.

In 2014, Bankrate released a study evaluating the costs associated with car ownership across states by analyzing expenses such as fuel and insurance premiums; the report identified Wyoming as the state with the highest costs for vehicle owners.

Honors

In 2014, Bankrate’s Mortgage blog received accolades from the National Association of Real Estate Editors for Best Blog and Best Column.

Advertising Age ranked Bankrate as the fifth fastest-growing media company in October 2012.

The company earned a "Best in Business" award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) in 2012 for its "Financial Regulation, One Year Later" feature package. In addition, SABEW recognized Holden Lewis’ mortgage blog and Bankrate’s financial reform coverage in 2011.

Contributors at Bankrate have been honored multiple times with awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, including reporting on the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s rate reduction in 2007.

In 2008, Forbes placed Bankrate at number 41 among America's top 200 Best Small Companies and had previously acknowledged the website five times between 1999 and 2004 within its "Best of the Web" rankings.

See also

External links

  1. ↑ Red Ventures Announces Closing of Acquisition of Bankrate, Inc.
  2. ↑ Maggie Harrison Dupré, Futurism, 2024
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named SEC
  4. ↑ Various
  5. ↑ Apax Partners acquisition
  6. ↑ NYSE IPO
  7. ↑ Secondary offering
  8. ↑ Acquisitions
  9. ↑ Leadership change
  10. ↑ Red Ventures acquisition
  11. ↑ Bankrate UK launch
  12. ↑ Fraud case details
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