After refusing the informal $100 million acquisition offer from AOL in 2013, Business Insider is most probably going to be undertaking a new round of funding from its existing backers which include Jeff Bezos of Amazon, re/code reported.
In December, site Co-Founder Kevin Ryan told possible buyers that he would be considering a sale of the site for a price tag of $200 million, the report said. Since that price has remained unmet, the group is trying to get new funding with the same investors who have already invested into Business Insider. Aside from Bezos, the backers would include Institutional Venture Partners, RRE Ventures and Marc Andreessen who will provide angel investment, the report said.
Last year, the existing investors have already invested $5 million into the business-focused website which has been in existence for six years. While reports covering the funding indicated that most of the investment came from Bezos, others also placed substantial amounts.
For the newest funding round, however, the report said Bezos is most likely going to be investing substantially through Bezos Expeditions, his personal investment firm, since he is reportedly "nuts for that site" according to a source.
According to sources, the most recent round of the website which is managed and co-founded by Henry Blodget was undertaken at a $60 million valuation. The startup has gathered $18 million so far. Sources said the valuation for the latest fundraising will be much higher than that, the report said.
According to a Bloomberg report which cited sources, Business Insider's 2012 revenue was pegged at around $10 million. Re/code reported its sources as saying that the website's revenue last year had doubled at nearly $20 million.
Sources said the website posted profits in the fourth quarter. Data from comScore also showed that Business Insider's traffic, together with mobile, is pegged at around 20 million unique visitors each month. This puts it in the league of the financial websites of huge media firms, the report said.
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