Purch Acquires AnandTech, Dominates Tech Expert and Enthusiast Market

Leading content and commerce company adds respected mobile, computing, and IT reviews site to its brand portfolio

NEW YORK, NY (December 17, 2014) – Purch today announced the acquisition of AnandTech.com, a leader in mobile, computing and IT analysis and reviews. Purch’s industry-leading combination of high-quality content and integrated commerce experiences makes complex buying decisions easy for more than 100 million consumers and professionals monthly. With the acquisition of AnandTech, Purch furthers its mission to simplify purchase decisions for in-market tech consumers by adding one of the most popular computer components, hardware, and mobile reviews sites to a brand portfolio that already includes category heavyweight, Tom’s Hardware.

AnandTech has been at the forefront of the technological evolution, providing groundbreaking reviews and trend coverage of cutting-edge mobile and computing products since Anand Shimpi, one of the tech industry’s most authoritative and respected figures, founded it in 1997 at age 14.

“AnandTech has grown by leaps and bounds over the past several years, but we were nearing what’s possible as an independent company,” said Ryan Smith, editor-in-chief, AnandTech. “The challenge has always been that there are very few players in the publishing space these days who value deep, high-quality content. We wanted a partner that understood our values, had a sound business model to ensure AnandTech’s legacy would continue for years to come, and would allow us to grow and expand our readership without compromising the quality that made us who were are today. Purch provides all of these things. I am beyond excited about what we’ll be able to do with their support.”

“The addition of AnandTech to a brand portfolio that includes Tom’s Hardware, Tom’s Guide, and Top Ten Reviews unquestionably establishes Purch as the dominant provider of in-depth, quality technology content, serving technology buyers who want to ensure the value of their potential investments,” said Greg Mason, CEO, Purch. “Technology manufacturers, too, can be assured that their messages will reach any serious buyer. The two editorial teams represent the finest, most expert group of content talent in the technology space. ”

“AnandTech represents much of my life’s work over the past 18 years,” said Anand Shimpi, founder, AnandTech. “I am happy to see it end up with a partner committed to taking good care of the brand and its readers. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

Purch offers brands and advertisers unmatched reach to tens of millions of discerning in-market tech consumers and professionals each month. These tech “enthusiasts” look to the kind of detailed research, benchmark testing, and advice from category experts during their buying process for which Tom’s Hardware and AnandTech are known. Readers trust that advice because it is backed by nearly two decades of testing every mobile and PC component imaginable, and is supported by unprecedented input and guidance from the biggest, passionate community of like-minded enthusiasts.

Purch’s acquisition of AnandTech is the company’s most recent move in a series of strategic acquisitions and partnerships aimed at furthering its mission to ease complex buying decisions for shoppers and deliver branding and performance results to advertisers. In 2013, the company acquired the renowned “Tom’s” brand of tech media sites and, earlier this year, purchased BuyerZone, the leading online marketplace for SMB buyers and sellers. Purch’s ability to trigger buying decisions in an array of product categories is evidenced by the more than 7,000 marketers and sellers that come to Purch to connect with ready-to-buy consumers. Each year, Purch’s content-commerce combination drives more than one billion dollars in commerce transactions.

In addition to the acquisition, Purch is now the number one technology publisher in the U.S., [1] with a global readership of more than 100 million monthly unique visitors.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

To find out more about Purch, visit www.purch.com or follow the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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About Purch

Purch is a portfolio of digital brands and services that helps make complex buying decisions easy for 100 million consumers monthly. Its respected sites such as Top Ten Reviews, Tom’s Guide, Tom’s Hardware, and Live Science natively integrate commerce and content in more than 1000 product categories so consumers can make better choices before, during, and after an important purchase.

The company helps marketers achieve their branding and performance objectives in a high-quality, brand-safe context. Its sites connect in-market shoppers with more than 7,000 marketers and sellers, driving industry-leading conversion rates and $1 billion in commerce transactions annually.

Purch is a high-growth, privately held company with more than 350 employees and offices across the U.S. and Europe.

For more information on Purch, visit www.purch.com or follow the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

[1] Source: comScore U.S. Media Metrix, Tech-News category ranking by unique visitors, PC audience, September 2014

AnandTech Acquired By Purch
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  • Dribble - Wednesday, December 17, 2014 - link

    So where is the nexus 9 review then? New hardware (first ever nvidia cpu, first highish end nexus device), new os (first 64 bit android device). It came out over a month ago, and nothing but a short preview when it was released.
  • JarredWalton - Thursday, December 18, 2014 - link

    It's in progress... Josh or Andrei is working on it, Ryan is helping, but with school, flu, other stuff it has been delayed. Just like the Omega drivers article, which I spent probably 40 hours or so running benchmarks on. Hopefully that goes up this week, as my part was pretty much done the day they launched. :)
  • OldFred - Thursday, December 18, 2014 - link

    Get some reading glasses!
  • FunBunny2 - Thursday, December 18, 2014 - link

    What's not understood, apparently, is that the leading/cutting edge of mobile is battery tech, not node shrinks. Unless/until some Einstein figures out a completely new chemistry (I know....), the envelope remains the same. Mo power to duh peoples.
  • FlyTexas - Thursday, December 18, 2014 - link

    Jarred,

    Put down the Nexus and pickup an iPhone 6 Plus. Yea, yea, you like Android, I know... you want web pages to load as fast as your laptop? You can have that today, and with only TWO CORES! :)

    In my work, we've used Motorola, Samsung, etc.. Android phones... the iPhone screens were too small... with the 6 Plus, we've replaced everything across the board with 6 Plus and what a nice change it has been. Expensive perhaps, but they "just work" and a number of headaches are gone.

    For all the "tech specs" of the Galaxy S series, it never really felt that fast, I'm quite shocked actually at how well these work, given the 1GB of RAM and dual core CPU, but it is faster than our Galaxy S4s that they replaced when doing almost everything.
  • JarredWalton - Thursday, December 18, 2014 - link

    Is the iPhone 6 Plus faster than a SHIELD Tablet? Because I have one of those as well, and while it's faster than my Nexus 5 isn't also still clearly slower than my laptop or desktop. Both can be "fast enough" depending on the task, but we're still at least a few more generations of hardware away from the performance I want in a tablet/smartphone. Greedy, I know.
  • FlyTexas - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link

    I don't know, I haven't used a SHIELD Tablet...

    What I do know is that my work laptop is a nice Haswell based Core i7 machine with a 256 GB SSD, and it doesn't pull up AnandTech.com any faster than my iPhone 6 Plus does.

    It is twice as fast as my old Galaxy S4, and given the specs on that phone I'm shocked at the difference. Both phones are on Verizon, so no carrier change.

    Note that this is not benchmarks, it is subjective feeling, but I did just try it today on both to see the difference.

    Frankly I think you rely too much on performance benchmarks that often don't translate in the real world and less on professional experience and opinion. SSDs are a great example. Yes, the Samsung 850 Pro is faster than the 840 EVO, no doubt about it. Much, much faster than the older Intel 320 series, yes?

    You know what? Running Windows doing average daily tasks, you can't really tell the difference between any of them. Yes, the benchmarks show a difference, but it doesn't translate. More or less, ANY SSD is a vast improvement over ANY HDD, it really doesn't matter which one.

    For the record, I've used OCZ, Samsung, Intel, and Crucial SSDs, we now only deploy Crucial MX100 SSDs due to the price and dependability. I have a 840 EVO in my personal desktop and it is fine, as it the Intel 320 in my laptop. It doesn't really matter. :)
  • DarkStryke - Wednesday, December 17, 2014 - link

    Non-Anand content has been seriously lacking and quite frankly shallow in many areas, especially mobile.

    Saw this coming.
  • Takamata - Wednesday, December 17, 2014 - link

    I would say it hasn't been bad since Anand left, but I do feel like the exemplary quality of pieces is down a bit. And occasionally something surprisingly blah.
  • FlyTexas - Thursday, December 18, 2014 - link

    Go back and read some stuff from 10 years ago, then tell me it isn't bad. It has been going down for some time now. :)

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