Through its online dating Web site Match.com, IAC has paired up thousands of happy couples. Now, the Internet and media company founded by Barry Diller plans to use similar a technique to pair students with the perfect tutor.
IAC is set to announce Monday it will acquire Tutor.com, an online service that matches students with educational professionals who help with everything from high-school algebra to advanced physics. The Web site will join an IAC trove of online properties that include Dictionary.com, CollegeHumor.com, About.com, and lucrative dating services like Match.com and OKCupid.com.
Tutor.com has been pairing an army of nearly 3,000 tutors with students since 1998. But nearly 90 percent of the company?s business comes from contracts with institutions, like the United States military, universities and libraries, rather than selling the online tutoring sessions directly to parents or students.
IAC intends to change that. The company did not disclose the terms of the deal, but one person briefed on the acquisition estimated that IAC had paid just under $40 million for Tutor.com. IAC plans to improve the site?s user interface and marketing, and apply the complex algorithms used on Web sites like Match.com and HomeAdvisor.com, which pairs homeowners with contractors.
?We?re not educators and we don?t want to be, but we?re good at taking that network that?s been created and bringing to bear real consumer expertise,? said Gregory R. Blatt, chief executive of IAC.
George Cigale, the founder and chief executive of Tutor.com, will continue to run the company as it makes the transition to a more consumer-focused enterprise. Mr. Cigale describes Tutor.com, whose plans start at $39.99 for an hour a month of instant access to an Internet tutor, as ?an older brother who knows what you?re struggling with and can help you on a moment?s notice.?
He says the company had grown to the point that it needed a company like IAC. ?We reach hundreds of thousands of students each month, but we could be reaching millions,? Mr. Cigale says. ?The best way to do that would be to go directly to the parents.?
IAC is the latest media company to get into the burgeoning field of digital learning. News Corporation has beefed up its fledgling education division, called Amplify, led by Joel I. Klein, a former New York City Schools chancellor. Disney, Discovery Communications and Comcast?s NBCUniversal have also invested in digital education tools for K-12 classrooms.
Mr. Blatt said the Tutor.com deal is not part of a broader play by IAC to break into the education sector. ?We know some people are out there looking to get into education. That?s not what we?re doing,? he said. ?We found a company we like and we think we can improve the customer experience.?
Source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/iac-is-set-to-announce-acquisition-of-tutor-com/
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