Leading Online Performance Marketing Companies, MediaWhiz and GRS, To Merge
Lake Capital Investment Positions Company for Continued Growth
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information:
Jason Cohen
MediaWhiz
646-442-0071
jason@mediawhiz.com
Yannick Tessier
Global Resource Systems
954-577-3033
ytessier@grscorp.com
Kevin Rowe
Lake Capital
312-640-7075
krowe@lakecapital.com
NEW YORK, NY and FORT LAUDERDALE, FL / April 11, 2006 / Businesswire / – Two of the interactive marketing industry’s leading firms, Global Resource Systems (GRS) and MediaWhiz, today announced they have merged to form one of the largest providers of online performance marketing services. Lake Capital, a private equity firm that invests in growing services companies, first invested in MediaWhiz in August 2005 and will provide further growth capital for the initiative.
The merger brings together MediaWhiz, widely known for its affiliate marketing, co-registration, and lead generation services, and GRS, which has deep expertise in list management and email marketing, while also bringing additional capabilities in affiliate and search engine marketing. This merger more than doubles the size of the business and creates an industry leader with one of the broadest distribution channels available to reach online consumers. Both business units will continue to be led by the entrepreneurs who founded them, Jason Cohen of MediaWhiz and Yannick Tessier of GRS. Each has a history of successfully growing businesses in the interactive marketing industry. Cohen and Tessier’s knowledge, passion, and deep industry relationships will continue to drive impressive growth.
Founded in 2002 by interactive marketing industry veteran, Yannick Tessier, GRS has grown rapidly by implementing the most stringent email marketing compliance standards in the industry and is recognized for its ability to produce strong, consistent, predictable results for its marketer and list owner clients.
In addition to his success in building GRS, Tessier has a proven track record as a successful entrepreneur. He started his first company when he was fifteen and grew it to more than 50 employees before selling it to a strategic acquirer. Subsequently, Tessier worked with several other online marketing ventures, including Mars Music, CyberAds, and Eritmo.
GRS will continue to operate under its established brand and will be led by Tessier, who will also serve as the holding company’s co-president with MediaWhiz founder, Jason Cohen. “GRS and MediaWhiz have worked together extensively for several years by providing each other list management and lead acquisition services, respectively. Leveraging our organizations’ individual strengths and unique value propositions, we will be able to continue to enhance our combined position as one of the industry’s leading companies,” said Yannick Tessier.
“Our merger creates one of the broadest platforms of online performance marketing solutions available to advertisers today,” explained Jason Cohen, co-president of MediaWhiz. “Together, the capabilities of our two firms will allow us to generate an ever increasing number of qualified customers for our advertisers by capitalizing on our ability to reach consumers through a diversity of online marketing channels.”
“We have had extensive contact with leading service providers in this market space and believe we have facilitated the merger of two best-of-breed companies,” noted Kevin Rowe, director of Lake Capital. “By creating a company with this breadth of online distribution capabilities, we have taken a critical step towards building a unique company that is well-positioned to provide superlative results to our clients, marketers who are continually increasing focus on return on advertising investment.”
Global Capital Markets served as the exclusive financial advisor to GRS on the transaction. No transaction terms have been disclosed.
About GRS
Global Resource Systems is a leading provider of interactive marketing solutions specializing in list management. Its brands include WhiteDelivery, an email service provider that features proprietary software solutions, and services, enabling its clients to have the highest rates of email deliverability in the industry. GRS partners with Habeas and Bonded Sender, the two leading compliance organizations in email marketing. Its other core product is Filinet, an affiliate network that is designed to connect advertisers and publishers with real-time campaign tracking, ad serving technology, and a suite of tools and services that enable high volume performance marketing. More information about GRS is available at www.grscorp.com.
About MediaWhiz
MediaWhiz is a leading online performance marketing company. Founded in 2001, MediaWhiz has emerged as a market leader in lead generation, affiliate marketing, email marketing, and other online media services. The company has been featured twice as one of the fastest growing companies in the U.S. by Entrepreneur magazine. More information about MediaWhiz is available at www.mediawhiz.com.
About Lake Capital
Lake Capital is a private equity firm that focuses on investments in service-based enterprises across various industries. The firm is currently managing more than $1.3 billion in equity commitments and seeks to build leading services companies through organic and acquisition-enhanced growth. More information about Lake Capital is available at www.lakecapital.com.
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