SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep. 19, 2013--
Marchex,
Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHX), a leader in mobile performance advertising,
today announced that it will not pursue a spin-off of its
domains-related assets into a stand-alone, publicly-traded company at
this time and that Archeo will continue to operate as an independent
division of Marchex.
Marchex came to this conclusion as part of a recent strategic review.
The review began this summer after Marchex sold certain pay-per-click
assets, which were operating under Archeo, in July. Marchex sold the
assets to help sharpen Archeo’s focus and market opportunity around
domains, but as a result, Archeo’s overall financial profile became
smaller.
The review determined that the incremental costs and complexities
associated with taking Archeo public at this time would be prohibitive,
and that Archeo’s value to shareholders is best recognized as a
segmented division of Marchex.
“This is the right decision for Marchex and our shareholders,” said
Russell Horowitz, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Marchex.
“Archeo has tremendous asset value and we will continue to consider
various strategic options. In the meantime, this decision frees up
valuable resources and allows us to direct Archeo’s positive cash flow
to both build Marchex’s balance sheet and fund Archeo’s growth
initiatives.”
Archeo, which earlier this month announced the launch of its Archeo
Domains Marketplace, will continue to execute on its business
strategy of building a vibrant and transparent ecosystem for buying and
selling domains. The new online marketplace provides direct access to
Archeo’s portfolio of more than 200,000 premium domain names available
for sale.
Marchex also announced today that its Board of Directors has approved a
plan to allocate a portion of Archeo’s cash flow to fund an ongoing
quarterly Marchex shareholder dividend, subject to capital availability.
Marchex anticipates it will fund a $0.02 per share quarterly dividend
beginning in the first quarter of 2014. The aggregate quarterly dividend
for the first quarter of 2014 is estimated at approximately $720,000.
This dividend plan replaces, and depending on Archeo’s cash generation,
may increase and potentially exceed Marchex’s prior dividend, which was
put in place in November, 2006.
About Marchex
Marchex, Inc. delivers customer calls to businesses and analyzes those
calls so companies can get the most out of their mobile advertising.
Marchex supports its customers through a unique technology platform that
has three primary components: (1) Call
Analytics, which powers all of our advertising solutions, and allows
partners to leverage data and insights that accurately measure the
performance of mobile, online and offline call advertising; (2) Digital
Call Marketplace, which annually connects millions of consumer calls
to our advertisers from a range of mobile and online sources on a Pay
For Call basis; and (3) Local
Leads, a white-labeled, full-service digital advertising solution
for small business resellers that drives quality phone calls and other
leads to their small business advertisers. Marchex is based in Seattle.
To learn more, please visit www.marchex.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve
substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than
statements of historical facts, included in this press release regarding
our strategy, future operations, future financial position, future
revenues, other financial guidance, acquisitions, projected costs,
prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking
statements. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or
expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should
not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual
results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and
expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements we make. There
are a number of important factors that could cause the actual results of
Marchex to differ materially from those indicated by such
forward-looking statements which are described in the "Risk Factors"
section of Marchex’s most recent periodic report or registration
statement filed with the SEC. All of the information provided in this
release is as of September 19, 2013 and Marchex undertakes no duty to
update the information provided herein.
Source: Marchex, Inc.
Marchex Investor Relations:
Trevor Caldwell, 206-331-3600
Email:
ir(at)marchex.com
or
Marchex Corporate Communications:
Sonia
Krishnan, 206-331-3434
Email: skrishnan(at)marchex.com
