DHAKA: Personal finance journalist Martin Lewis has sold his MoneySavingExpert website to the price comparison company MoneySupermarket in a deal which will net him up to £87m.
Lewis set up the site, which offers money saving tips and advice, reader forums and calculators, in 2003 and it now has around 5 million subscribers to its weekly email. According to Google Analytics, it attracted around 39 million unique visitors and 277m page impressions in the year ending 31 October 2011. It reported revenues of £15.7m for the same period.
Lewis, who is well-known as a media pundit on money matters, will receive £60m upfront in a mixture of cash and shares and a further £27m if he meets targets over the next three years, while he remains at the website as its editor-in-chief. He has said he will give £10m to charity, with £1m going to Citizens Advice.
The site, which employs 42 people, was now "far bigger than the man who founded it" and it was the right time to sell, Lewis said.
"This is great news for MoneySavingExpert.com and its users, ensuring, with or without me, the site will be around for many years to come, maintaining our ethos of `cutting your costs and fighting your corner`."
Peter Plumb, chief executive officer of MoneySupermarket, said the website shared a common goal of helping customers save money.
"We`ll help MoneySavingExpert.com reach a wider audience and MoneySavingExpert.com will broaden the range of advice and tools we offer, encouraging even more people to take action, tap into the benefits of the internet to find a better deal and make the most of their money."
BDST: 1845 HRS, JUN 01, 2012
Edited by: Abul Kalam Azad, Newsroom Editor
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