QuinStreet

QuinStreet, Inc. is a publicly traded marketing company based in Foster City, California. QuinStreet offers performance-based marketing and search engine marketing services. QuinStreet was founded in 1999, and has launched or acquired dozens of websites and other media properties.

QuinStreet, Inc.
TypePublic
Nasdaq: QNST
S&P 600 component
IndustryPerformance marketing, media online
Founded1999
HeadquartersFoster City, California, U.S.
Key people
Doug Valenti, Founder & CEO; Nina Bhanap, President and CTO
Revenue$490 million (2019[1])
Number of employees
637 (2019) [1]

The company was investigated in 2012 by 20 U.S. states for using deceptive marketing tactics to promote for-profit schools to U.S. veterans. QuinStreet agreed to pay $2.5 million and made several changes to its practices to end the investigation. Despite the sanctions, as late as 2016 QuinStreet continued gathering information which it sold to for-profit colleges.[2][3]

History

QuinStreet was formed in 1999 by Doug Valenti (chairman and CEO). Bronwyn Syiek, another founding team member, was president and COO. The company was first profitable in 2002 with revenues of $13 million; by April 2009, QuinStreet reported $300 million in annual revenues and approximately 450 employees.[4][5]

In February 2015, Nielsen NetRatings named QuinStreet the eighth top advertiser, after Education Dynamics, USA & StudentsLeads, India spending $9.4 million on 1.9 billion ads viewed.[6]

QuinStreet Inc. acquired U.S. Citizens for Fair Credit Card Terms, Inc, which operated the CardRatings.com website in August 2008 for an initial cash payment of $10.4 million.[7]

In the beginning of August 2009, QuinStreet Inc. used some of its cash reserves to acquire the Internet.com division of WebMediaBrands Inc. for $18 million.[8][9] Among the sites that QuinStreet Inc gained with the acquisition of Internet.com were InternetNews.com, Datamation.com, Webopedia.com, ServerWatch.com, EnterpriseNetworkingPlanet, SmallBusinessComputing.com, LinuxPlanet.com and Developer.com.

In September 2009, QuinStreet purchased Insure.com for $16 million.[10] The company's other financial-services properties include MoneyRates.com, Get Rich Slowly, ConsumerismCommentary.com and HSH.com.[11]

An initial public offering on February 11, 2010, raised $150 million, with the shares listed on Nasdaq under the symbol QNST.[12]

In India, QuinStreet operates IndiaEducation.net, IndiaEduNews.net, and ExamResults.net,[13] which it acquired in 2011 by incorporating QuinStreet India Marketing And Media Private Limited (QSIMM.)[14][15]

In September 2011, QuinStreet acquired the IT Business Edge (ITBE) network of web publications[16]

In February 2012, the company acquired the media assets of Ziff Davis "Enterprise", which included eWeek.com, CIOInsight.com, Baseline.com, ChannelInsider.com and WebBuyersGuide.com, and others.[17]

In 2018, the company acquired AmOne, an online marketing company.[18] In 2019, Quinstreet acquired CloudControlMedia, LLC and MyBankTracker.com, LLC.[18][19][20]

For its second quarter of fiscal 2013, the Company reported total revenue of $71.8 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $11.2 million, or 16% of revenue.[21] For its fiscal 2016, QuinStreet reported total revenue of $297.7 million[22] Quinstreet reported first quarter fiscal 2017 revenue of $73.4 million with an EPS of $0.01, missing analyst targets.[23] For its fiscal year ending June 30, 2018, QuinStreet reported net revenue of $404 million and basic net income per share of $0.34.[24] Net revenue for fiscal year ending June 30, 2019, was reported to be $455 million with basic net income per share of $1.26.[25]

In 2020, QuinStreet sold its B2B tech publications to TechnologyAdvice.[26]

Partnerships

The company has partnerships with other organizations including Bob Vila[27] and Credit.com.[28]

Deceptive advertising investigation and settlement

In June 2012, the company was under investigation by the Attorneys General's offices of 15 separate US states, led by the Attorney General of Kentucky, Jack Conway.[29] The company was accused of targeting military veterans with deceptive recruiting practices for its for-profit school clients.[30] The company agreed to pay a $2.5 million fine and relinquish the website GIBill.com.[30] Quinstreet's education clients have included Art Institutes, DeVry University, Kaplan University, University of Phoenix, Westwood, and other for-profit colleges.[3][31]

References
  1. "QuinStreet 2019 10K filing". Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  2. "Don't share that infographic spam". Salon. March 8, 2013.
  3. Halperin, David (February 1, 2016). "Military-Branded Websites Push Veterans to Troubled For-Profit Colleges". Huffington Post.
  4. Geron, Tomio (August 18, 2009). "QuinStreet Publicly Boasts About Its Earnings". WSJ Blogs. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  5. "QuinStreet, Inc". Company profile from Hoover's. Hoover's. 2011. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  6. "QuinStreet Marketing Strategy Presentation Burns Bright at DMA06 Conference". QuinStreet. November 6, 2006. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  7. "sv1". www.sec.gov. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  8. Ali, Rafat (August 9, 2009). "Meckler Selling Internet.com Business to QuinStreet For $18M; Exiting Tech Trade". paidContent. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  9. "WebMediaBrands Sells Internet.com to QuinStreet". InternetNews.com. internet.com. August 10, 2009. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  10. "QuinStreet buys Insure.com". San Francisco Business Times. October 12, 2009.
  11. "QuinStreet Announces Acquisition of ConsumerismCommentary.com". QuinStreet. November 28, 2011.
  12. "QuinStreet, Inc (QNST)". IPO record. NASDAQ. February 11, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
  13. "IndiaEducation.com Launches Free e-Book Series for College Students and New Graduates". The Telegraph. June 19, 2012.
  14. "About Quinstreet India Marketing And Media Private Limited". Zauba. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  15. "QuinStreet is now bringing colleges and students together online in India". QuinStreet.
  16. "QuinStreet, Inc. - QuinStreet Announces Acquisition of IT Business Edge". investor.quinstreet.com. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
  17. "QuinStreet Acquires Ziff Davis Enterprise Media Assets". QuinStreet. February 6, 2012. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013.
  18. SEC. "Quinstreet, Inc 2019 Quarterly Report 10-Q". SEC.report. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  19. "QNST.A - QuinStreet Inc Key Developments". Reuters. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  20. "QuinStreet buys digital marketing agency". www.spglobal.com. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  21. "QuinStreet Reports Financial Results for Its Second Quarter of Fiscal 2013". GlobeNewswire. January 29, 2013.
  22. "EDGAR Pro". yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
  23. "Quinstreet, Inc (QNST) Misses Q1 EPS by 3c; Will Implement Corp. Restructuring". StreetInsider.com. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  24. "QuinStreet, Inc". investor.quinstreet.com. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
  25. "QNST-10k_20190630.HTM".
  26. Staff, eWeek. "eWEEK Moves to New Publisher, TechnologyAdvice.com". eweek.com. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
  27. "'This Old House' star Bob Vila on finding success by accident". CNBC. September 24, 2019.
  28. "QuinStreet, Inc. Announces Partnership with Credit.com". Globenewswire.com. August 28, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  29. "Fifteen State Attorneys General To Investigate Company Marketing For-Profit Colleges To Veterans". ThinkProgress. June 6, 2012.
  30. "QuinStreet settles complaints it misled veterans". San Francisco Chronicle. June 28, 2012.
  31. "Company profile. DeVry, Inc" (PDF). senate.gov. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
  • Official website Edit this at Wikidata
  • Business data for QuinStreet:
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.