TechMediaNetwork, publisher of various tech news sites such as TopTenReviews, Laptop and Space.com, acquired BestofMedia Group, publisher of Tom's Guides. TechMediaNetwork executives did not reveal the exact amount of the deal. However, Greg Mason, TechMediaNetwork's Chief Executive, did say that that most of the transaction was a stock deal.
The acquisition would increase the company's breadth and scope of content, says a TechMediaNetwork investor. In addition, the new acquisition would help the company establish a strong presence in Europe, as BestofMedia Group was formed in France, operating sites in eight languages.
Now that the two companies were combined, TechMediaNetwork planned to roll out BestofMedia's "community platform" technology across its various sites. TomsITPro.com and Tomshardware.com are two examples where this type of community platform technology was dominantly used.
Basically, the community platform included forums, where users or the site's community can interact to share questions and answers to topics and issues not addressed by the sites articles. "We think of ourselves as a kind of Quora or Yahoo Answers for tech, but we do it all within a content environment," says Antoine Boulin, BestofMedia President. Boulin further noted that here was great demand of these kinds of expert-interactions in tech.
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