Founders Investment Banking’s Internet & Digital Media practice is pleased to announce the closings of two previously unannounced transactions that were completed in 2011. These transactions include

• The sale of Consumerism Commentary to QuinStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ: QNST). Consumerism Commentary (www.ConsumerismCommentary.com) is among the pioneers in the online personal finance publishing space and has grown to become one of the largest and most well-known personal finance blogs on the Web. Consumerism Commentary has been cited by the Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek Online and was named among Yahoo’s Ten Money Blogs Everyone Should Read. It has been recognized in Money Magazine’s Best Web Sites and by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine as a Must-Read Blog. The acquisition of Consumerism Commentary will expand QuinStreet’s portfolio of leading personal finance media properties.
• The sale of a leading portfolio of online trucker recruiting websites from Vertical Alliance Group, Inc. to Internet Brands, Inc. The group of sites together represented one of the industry’s most trafficked and respected resources for truck drivers researching employment opportunities, and the company benefited from longstanding advertising relationships with many of the top employers in the space. The acquisition of the portfolio of sites will serve to cement Internet Brands’ position as an industry leader in the field of online trucking industry recruitment.

“We are grateful to be able to announce these transactions and are pleased for the founders of Consumerism Commentary and Vertical Alliance Group,” remarked Zane Tarence, Managing Director of Founders Investment Banking’s Internet & Digital Media practice. “Despite the hiccups that the broader economy experienced during 2011, compelling Web-based businesses such as these two have garnered increasing buyer interest as institutional capital continues to flow into this space, and we were pleased that these owners were able to accomplish their personal and financial goals through these two transactions.”

Founders Investment Banking, LLC is an independent, middle-market capital advisory firm, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, that is dedicated to providing a comprehensive range of customized solutions for its clients, including merger and acquisition, merchant banking and corporate and strategic finance advisory services. In order to provide securities-related services, certain principals of Founders are licensed with Burch & Company, Inc., a registered broker-dealer. Burch and Founders are unaffiliated entities.  For more information on our firm, please visit www.foundersib.com.