Revolution Health, Waterfront Media Plan Merger To Compete With WebMD

This story was written by Staci D. Kramer.

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Reports of this possibility first surfaced last month and now it's done ... Steve Case's ambitious Revolution Health Network will merge with Waterfront Media in a deal the parties value at $300 million, according to the New York Times. Revolution's sites will be absorbed into Waterfront's Everyday Health Network but RevolutionHealth.com will remain. Case will join the board while Benjamin Wolin remains CEO of Waterfront Media, with Revolution as a "major investor" in the expanded Waterfront Media and its 24 sites. Case will continue to head parent company Revolution LLC "and will continue to be involved with health companies."

Case's spin: he's not losing a company, he's gaining a CEO. He told the Times: "Clearly, getting strong C.E.O.'s to run each of the companies is our strategy. Ben's done a great job building a company."

When the Washington Post reported the possibility of a merger last month, Wolin was noncommittal but complimentary about Revolution in an interview with us. Speaking of consolidation, he said, "Whatever happens with Revolution, they're the #3 player right now and it's going to shake up the market place." That's certainly what Waterfront is hoping by merging EverydayHealth, which ranks #2 according to comScore Media Matrix, with Revolution. NYT adds their traffic and comes out ahead of WebMD but what remains to be seen is how much unduplicated traffic the two have.

Profits: Last spring, at our EconHealth conference, Case said Revolution Health would be profitable within the year. Wolin told the Times Waterfront was profitable on revenue of $50 million last year and expects to be profitable in 2009 with revenue of $100-plus million.

More to come. 


By Staci D. Kramer