Dror Efrat, the Founder of Investing.com, has sold the major online trading industry data and analysis provider to an international investment fund based in Asia.
Israeli local media house Globes first reported that the deal was closed for around half a billion dollars, but Finance Magnates confirmed that the number was less. The identity of the new owner is still unknown.
Efrat founded the website in 2007 with three other co-founders, providing real-time quotes, charts, directories, up-to-date financial news, technical analysis and financial tools. It sources from more than 100 global stock exchanges and offers insights into commodities, Cryptocurrencies , currencies, bonds and derivatives.
The content of the platform is available in 24 languages and gets more than 199 million monthly visits, according to SimilarWeb data, thus becoming one of the most visited trading industry platforms.
Efrat, who purchased the domain name Investing.com for $2.45 million, led the company for 11 years. Omer Shvili, the Founder of online brokerage Markets.com, has been in charge of the company since 2018.
A Successful Advertizer-Based Business Model
The popularity of Investing.com soared mostly with its entirely free content. The platform does not charge users and makes money from advertisements, which ranges from banks to insurance companies, and even luxury consumer brands and airlines.
In an interview with Globes a couple of years ago, senior executives at Investing.com revealed that the company recorded double-digit growth annually and generated a revenue of around $60 million that year.
Interestingly, the company never lost money or even raised capital, the executives detailed. Now with Efrat‘s exit, it is to be seen how the new owners proceed with the massive financial market platform, whether they go for further global expansion or shift focus to niche, yet lucrative local markets.
