The world's biggest family history website has been bought for $1.6bn (£1bn) in a private equity-backed deal that will make multimillionaires of two of its bosses.
Ancestry.com's chief executive, Tim Sullivan, and its finance chief, Howard Hochhauser, were part of a buyout led by the private equity firm Permira that has taken the genealogy giant private at a 41% premium to its share price before speculation over a sale started pushing the shares up.
"This is a successful outcome for our public stockholders, and a great day for Ancestry.com employees and subscribers around the world," said Sullivan.
The group of buyers includes Spectrum Equity, the biggest shareholder with a stake of about 30%. Permira said that it intends to invest in international expansion of the business, which was once cited as potential suitor for the failed UK social networking site Friends Reunited.
The 15-year old Ancestry.com allows users to scour more than 10bn digitised records from around the world, some dating back to the 13th century. Records include Australian election rolls, US military records and transatlantic steamer passenger lists.
The company has more than 2 million subscribers paying up to $34.95 a month, mostly in the US, although it has users in Canada, Australia and the UK. The website has operated in the UK since 2001 and sponsors a Who Do You Think You Are? genealogy live event.
Source: The Guardian
