AllRecipes.com Website Sold For $175 Million

Sites include allrecipes.com . Published on February 7th, 2012. Written by Anthony West.

Recipe websites are almost perennial in their popularity. Little wonder then that when one of the top recipe websites online goes up for sale, it commands big bucks.

Popular recipe website AllRecipes.com was recently sold for a whopping $175 million. The buyer was Meredith Corp, the publishing house that controls the magazines Better Homes and Garden and Ladies’ Home Journal. The seller of course was the very well-known Readers Digest Group, publisher of the world renowned magazine, Readers Digest.

Looking at the deal, several things jump out at you, not least the fact that $175 million is lots of money. The huge sum suggests that Readers Digest Group perhaps needed the cash; after all, why would a publishing giant offload an asset that is clearly not a drain on its operations. On the other hand, Meredith Group might have just enticed Readers Digest Group with an offer they really couldn’t refuse. Meredith has been on an acquisition tear in recent months, and entered the online food and recipes market with the setting up of Recipe.com. The company also acquired Eating Well magazine, a move which left many speculating that Meredith would eventually make a play for a really big presence in the food and recipes space. Readers Digest Group of course gets its hands on $175 million, and that isn’t anything to sniff at.