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Blucora, Inc.
File:Blucora logo.svg
Type of businessPublic
Traded asNasdaq: BCOR
S&P 600 Component
FoundedMarch 1996; 28 years ago (1996-03) (as Infospace, Inc.)
Headquarters
Irving, Texas
,
U.S.
Founder(s)
  • Punam Agrawal
  • Glenn Byrd
  • Jean-Remy Facq
  • Anu Jain
  • Naveen Jain
  • Sanjay Kohli
  • Kevin Marcus
  • Charles Mathieu
  • Chris Matty
  • Richard Openheimer
Key peopleChris Walters (President and CEO)
ServicesMetasearch and private-label Internet search tax preparation services
Revenue$509.6 million for FY2017[1]
SubsidiariesHD Vest
TaxAct
URLblucora.com

Blucora (formerly Infospace, Inc.) is a provider of financial services. InfoSpace changed its name to Blucora and NASDAQ symbol from INSP to BCOR on June 7, 2012. This event reflected the company's change as the owner of two online businesses, after its acquisition of TaxACT in January 2012, and distinguishes the parent company from its search business operating unit, which was called InfoSpace.[3]

Blucora's TaxACT subsidiary offers online tax preparation services. Founded in 1998 and made by 2nd Story Software, in the 2005 tax season, TaxACT became the first to offer free federal tax software and free e-file to all U.S. taxpayers.[4]

History

The company was founded as Infospace in March 1996 by Naveen Jain after he left Microsoft. The company started with six employees, and Jain served as CEO until 2000.[5] InfoSpace provided content and services, such as phone directories, maps, games and information on the stock market, to websites and mobile device manufacturers.[6] The company grew at low cost without funding using co-branding strategies. Rather than try to get traffic to an InfoSpace website, sites like Lycos, Excite and Playboy embedded Infospace's features and content into their site and added an InfoSpace icon to it. InfoSpace then earned money by taking a small percentage of licensing, subscription or advertising fees.[7] On December 15, 1998, InfoSpace went public, raising $75 million in the offering.[8]

By April 2000, InfoSpace was working with 1,500 websites, 60 content providers and 20 telecommunications companies.[6] InfoSpace was praised by Wall Street analysts and at its peak its market cap was $31 billion. It became the largest internet business in the American Northwest.[9] InfoSpace may have contributed to the inflated expectations in internet companies during the height of the dot-com bubble.[9][6] In July 2000, InfoSpace acquired Go2Net. After the merger, Go2Net CEO Russell Horowitz became president of Infospace.[10] The same year, InfoSpace used a controversial accounting method to report $46 million in profits when in fact it had lost $282 million. Company executives skirted SEC trading restrictions to sell large blocks of their personal stock.[11]

Jain resumed the role of CEO in 2001,[12] but was forced out by InfoSpace's board as chairman and CEO in December 2002.[13] By June 2002, the company's stock price, which reached $1,305 in March 2000,[14] had dropped to $2.67.[5]

In December 2002, Jim Voelker took over Naveen Jain's role as Chairman, CEO and President of InfoSpace.[15] Voelker quickly shut down or sold many of InfoSpace's 12 businesses, and focused on five core segments.[16] In 2003, InfoSpace acquired Moviso from Vivendi Universal Net USA.[17] In early March 2003, InfoSpace sued Jain for allegedly violating non-compete agreements in his role at newly founded Intelius.[18] In April 2003, Jain resigned from the InfoSpace board.[19]

In 2004, InfoSpace acquired online yellow pages service Switchboard.[20] It also moved into the mobile games space, acquiring Atlas Mobile, IOMO and Elkware.[21][22][23] InfoSpace reported $249 million in revenue that year, up 89 percent from the previous year and more than Jain ever achieved in the company's dot-com heyday.[24]

In 2007, InfoSpace sold Atlas Mobile studio to Twistbox,[25] Moviso to mobile content tech firm FunMobility,[26] and IOMO re-emerged as FinBlade.[27] InfoSpace's directory services were acquired by Idearc for $225 million in September 2007,[28] while the remaining portions of InfoSpace Mobile were acquired by Motricity for $135 million in October 2007.[29]

In February 2009, Jim Voelker retired as CEO and president but remained on the company's board as chairman. From February 2009 to November 2010, Will Lansing served as president and CEO of InfoSpace.[30] Under Lansing's leadership, InfoSpace started an online auction website called haggle.com. A year later, it shut down the website and sold its assets to BigDeal.com.[31] William J. Ruckelshaus was appointed CEO in November 2010 after serving as a board member since May 2007.[citation needed]

In January 2012, the company acquired TaxAct,[32] and to help differentiate its name from its new purchase, and that of its InfoSpace search unit, it rebranded its name to Blucora, and its NASDAQ ticker symbol changed to BCOR on June 7, 2012.[33]

On August 1, 2013, Blucora bought Monoprice in an all-cash transaction.[34] On April 21, 2014, Discovery Communications announced that they had sold HowStuffWorks to Blucora for $45 million.[35]

On April 4, 2016, John S. Clendening was appointed CEO of Blucora.[36]

In July 2016, Blucora announced the sale of its Infospace business, including HowStuffWorks, to OpenMail for $45 million in cash. As part of the deal, CEO Bill Ruckelshaus was replaced by John Clendening.[37] On November 15, 2016, Blucora said it would move its headquarters from Bellevue, Washington, to Irving, Texas. At the same time, the company announced the sale of Monoprice, its online electronics retail business, to Taiwan-based electronics company YFC-BonEagle for $40 million.[38]

In January 2020, Blucora announced Chris Walters would replace John Clendening as President and CEO.[39]

Shareholder lawsuit

In a shareholder lawsuit filed in 2003, a lower court federal judge ruled that former InfoSpace CEO, Naveen Jain, had purchased shares of Infospace in violation of six month short swing insider trading rules, and issued a $247 million judgment against him, the largest award of its kind at that time.[40] Jain appealed the ruling in 2005, and settled the case for $105 million, while denying liability. Jain's attempt to further litigate against his former lawyers for the loss was dismissed.[41][42][43]

References

  1. ^ "Blucora Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2017 Results". Blucora. February 15, 2018. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
  2. ^ "blucora.com Competitive Analysis, Marketing Mix and Traffic - Alexa". alexa.com. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 31, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ http://www.taxact.com/company/company_aboutus.asp
  5. ^ a b Heath, David (March 6, 2005). "Dot-Con Job — Part 1: Dubious Deals — How InfoSpace took its investors for a ride: Business & Technology: The Seattle Times". Retrieved September 13, 2013.
  6. ^ a b c Welles, Edward (July 1, 2001). "Options, Equity, Rancor". Inc. Magazine. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  7. ^ "Smarter than Bill". Red Herring. June 30, 1997. Archived from the original on February 19, 2002. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  8. ^ A Fine IPO for InfoSpace from Wired
  9. ^ a b Heath, David (March 8, 2005). "Dot-con Job: Part 1: Dubious Deals". The Seattle Times. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  10. ^ InfoSpace to buy Go2Net to expand content delivery
  11. ^ Heath, David (March 7, 2005). "Dot-Con Job — Part 2: Cashing Out — When times got tough, execs hid troubles, dumped stock". The Seattle Times. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
  12. ^ "INFOSPACE INC, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Jan 23, 2001" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  13. ^ "InfoSpace severs final ties with founder Jain". Puget Sound Business Journal. April 28, 2003. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  14. ^ The two faces of InfoSpace, 1998–2001
  15. ^ Kane, Margaret (December 23, 2002). "InfoSpace names new president, CEO". CNET. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  16. ^ Heath, David; Chan, Sharon Pian (March 8, 2005). "New management, tighter focus finally put InfoSpace in the black". The Seattle Times. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  17. ^ "InfoSpace to Acquire Moviso". The Wall Street Journal. October 21, 2003. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  18. ^ "InfoSpace sues ex-CEO Naveen Jain". The Economic Times. March 12, 2003. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  19. ^ "Ex-InfoSpace CEO Jain Steps Down From Board". The Wall Street Journal. April 28, 2003. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  20. ^ Saranow, Jennifer (March 26, 2004). "InfoSpace Agrees to Acquire Switchboard for $160 Million". The Wall Street Journal Online. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  21. ^ Duffy, Jill (July 1, 2004). "InfoSpace Mobile Acquires Atlas". Gamasutra. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  22. ^ Fahey, Rob (December 2, 2004). "More mobile consolidation as InfoSpace buys IOMO". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  23. ^ "InfoSpace Signs Agreement to Acquire Mobile Games Company Elkware GmbH". GamesIndustry.biz. December 16, 2004. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  24. ^ Heath, David (March 7, 2005). "Dot-Con Job - Part 3: The Aftermath - New management, tighter focus finally put InfoSpace in the black". The Seattle Times. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
  25. ^ "Twistbox Acquires Infospace Games". IGN Wireless. January 26, 2007. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  26. ^ "InfoSpace Unloads Moviso". TechCrunch. June 12, 2007. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  27. ^ O'Brien, Stuart (August 6, 2007). "FinBlade opens its doors". MCV. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  28. ^ "InfoSpace to Sell Assets to Idearc for $225 Million". Associated Press. CNBC. September 17, 2007. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  29. ^ Nicole, Kristen (October 15, 2007). "Motricity Acquires InfoSpace for $135M". Mashable. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  30. ^ Cook, John (February 5, 2009). "Voelker retires as CEO of InfoSpace; former VC takes over". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  31. ^ Engleman, Eric (November 2, 2010). "InfoSpace shuts down Haggle, sells assets to BigDeal.com". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved November 2, 2010.
  32. ^ "InfoSpace Buys Online Tax Solutions Company TaxACT For $287.5M In Cash". TechCrunch. January 9, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  33. ^ Fox, Ben (June 7, 2012). "InfoSpace becomes Blucora; new symbol's BCOR". MarketWatch. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  34. ^ Miller, Ben (August 1, 2013). "Blucora buying Monoprice for $180M". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved December 21, 2013.
  35. ^ "Discovery Sells HowStuffWorks at 82% Loss After Seven Years". Bloomberg. April 21, 2014. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
  36. ^ Stewart, Ashley (May 17, 2016). "Bellevue's Blucora hires new CEO for transition into finance". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
  37. ^ "Blucora to sell InfoSpace business for $45 million". Seattle Times. July 5, 2016.
  38. ^ "Blucora moving headquarters to Texas, selling Monoprice for $40 million". Seattle Times. November 15, 2016.
  39. ^ "BLUCORA NAMES CHRIS WALTERS AS PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER". Blucora Website. January 30, 2020.
  40. ^ Heath, David (August 23, 2003). "Ex-InfoSpace chief ordered to pay $247 million penalty". Seattle Times. Retrieved February 24, 2010.
  41. ^ Heath, David; Pian Chan, Sharon; Dot-con Job: Part 3: The Aftermath – Unusual ally: SEC, The Seattle Times, 2005.
  42. ^ Court turns down appeal from Infospace founder, Archived June 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine The Seattle Times, March 9, 2009.
  43. ^ "Press Release, dated December 22, 2004". www.sec.gov. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
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