OnHealth Buys BabyData.com for $5 Million

OnHealth Network Company (Nasdaq: (ONHN), a Seattle, Washington-based healthcare site, announced Monday that it paid nearly $5 million (US$) in stock to acquire BabyData.com, a site aimed at pregnant couples and those trying to conceive.

OnHealth said that it issued over 681,000 shares of common stock for BabyData.com. The company’s stock price closed at 7 3/16 on Friday.

The acquisition helps OnHealth gain a targeted audience and broaden its own offering of health and wellness-related subjects. BabyData.com’s content will be folded into its site.

“OnHealth has built its reputation on delivering the information and resources consumers need relating to health and wellness,” said OnHealth CEO Robert Goodman. “This acquisition helps fuel our continued growth, delivers an attractive niche audience to our partners and advertisers and brings additional expertise to our management team.”

Dr. Amos Grunebaum, BabyData.com’s founder and nationally recognized obstetrician and gynecologist, will join OnHealth’s management team.

To Your Health

Since its transformation from IVI Publishing to OnHealth Network Company in March 1998, OnHealth.com has surfed a wave of popularity. According to Media Metrix, the site ranked behind drkoop.com in July traffic, attracting 1.2 million unique users. That usage represented a 29 percent increase over June, a jump that can be partly attributed to a $25 million TV and radio campaign unleashed earlier this summer.

The acquisition of BabyData fits squarely into the site’s targeted demographic of women who care about wellness and fitness as much as diagnostics. BabyData received nearly 300,000 visits in July, a figure that was reached with virtually no advertising or marketing efforts.

Among OnHealth’s current advertisers are Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Glaxo Wellcome and Pfizer. OnHealth also signed a marketing and co-branding deal with drugstore.com earlier this year.

Earlier this month, OnHealth filed a registration statement with the SEC to sell 3.1 million shares of common stock in an effort to raise $21 million. The company reported second quarter revenues of $581,000 and losses of nearly $7 million.