Experian Acquires PriceGrabber.com

Experian® today announced the acquisition of PriceGrabber.com, a leading provider of online comparison shopping services. PriceGrabber.com will become part of Experian InteractiveSM, a group of Internet marketing businesses that includes LowerMyBills.com®, MetaRewardSM, Affiliate Fuel, ClassesUSA.com® and Experian Consumer Direct.

The acquisition further strengthens the company’s leadership position in online customer acquisition and extends its capabilities as a trusted source for consumers of the critical information needed to make decisions about key life events and purchases to lower the cost of daily living. In addition, PriceGrabber.com will further extend the range of marketing solutions provided by Experian to multichannel retailers and catalogers.

Millions of consumers access the PriceGrabber.com Web site to quickly obtain free and unbiased information about products, services, merchants and sellers before making a purchase decision. Its database contains millions of products in more than 20 categories, such as consumer electronics, clothing, photography, computers, office products, software, toys, home and garden, and video games. Consumers are able to quickly find and select the retailer that provides the most attractive offer.

“We are very excited about the future growth prospects of combining PriceGrabber.com with Experian’s Interactive and Marketing businesses,” said Don Robert, chief executive officer of Experian Group. “The combined skills, expertise, and scale of Experian allow us to provide superior product offerings to consumers and clients.”

PriceGrabber.com connects its online shoppers to more than 9,000 merchants ranging from large traditional merchants to smaller local sellers. The company also powers comparison shopping on more than 300 Web sites, including Ask Jeeves, MSN, Comcast, Bell South and About.com. In November 2005, PriceGrabber.com provided comparison shopping services to more than 17 million unique visitors.

The acquisition is consistent with Experian’s global strategy of acquiring complementary businesses that provide new products, new data or entry into new vertical or regional markets while leveraging the core assets of Experian. The purchase price was $485 million plus expenses and was funded from Experian parent company GUS plc’s existing bank facilities.

“We are very pleased to welcome the talented people of PriceGrabber.com and their clients to the Experian family,” said Ed Ojdana, group president of Experian Interactive. “As a trusted and preferred comparison shopping destination, PriceGrabber.com adds additional capabilities for us to provide the best solutions to meet consumers’ needs. Whether consumers are looking to better manage their credit, apply for a mortgage or make informed purchasing decisions, we provide the destinations to help them with those decisions while saving time and money.”

“Joining Experian will enable PriceGrabber.com to expand into new verticals and will strengthen our current offerings to consumers,” said Kamran Pourzanjani, president of PriceGrabber.com. “We are delighted to join the exceptional team of people at Experian and look forward to working together to further our leadership in the comparison shopping market arena.”

All employees and management for PriceGrabber.com will be retained. PriceGrabber.com was founded in 1999 and employs 140 people. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif., the company also has offices in London.