The world's largest genealogy website, Ancestry.com, has announced its sale, valued at $1.6 billion, in a deal led by the European private equity firm Permira funds, and co-investors, according to a press release posted by the company Monday.
Co-investors in the take-private deal include Ancestry's Chief Executive Officer and President Tim Sullivan and its Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer Howard Hochhauser, who will retain their majority stake in the company. Spectrum Equity, which along with its affiliates currently owns a 30 percent stake, is also an investor.
The share price is $32, 41 percent over Ancestry's trading price in June before rumors of a sale began circulating. Shares closed Friday at $29.18.
"This is a successful outcome for our public stockholders, and a great day for Ancestry.com employees and subscribers around the world," said CEO Sullivan. He also expressed his enthusiasm about Permira's plans to continue investing in technology for the site.
Ancestry.com, which started as a publishing company, boasts more than 2 million paid subscribers with access to over 10 billion digitized historical records the site has amassed over the past 15 years. So far, subscribers have created more than 39 million family trees with 4 billion profiles, according to the company.
The company told shareholders over the summer it expects full-year revenue of $475 million and profits that are one-third of that, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The deal is supposed to go through in the beginning of the year.
Permira Funds was established in 1985, and since that time has made more than 200 private equity investments. Its 12 offices across Europe, the U.S. and Asia focus on driving sustainable growth through long-term investments.
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