TheStreet.com Buys Ratings Business

TheStreet.com (TSCM Quote), publisher of this Web site, announced that it has acquired certain ratings assets of Weiss Ratings in a bid to diversify beyond its core emphasis on news reporting and stock analysis.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 1988, Weiss Ratings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Weiss Group, tracks the risk-adjusted performance of more than 16,000 mutual funds and more than 6,000 stocks. It also uses proprietary quantitative computer models to evaluate the financial strength of more than 13,000 financial institutions, including life, health and annuity insurers; property and casualty insurers; HMOs; Blue Cross Blue Shield plans; and banks and savings and loans.

TheStreet.com said the purchase dovetails with two of its goals: buying firms that will add to the bottom line, while diversifying both the sources of revenue and content to capitalize on the fast-growing advertising market and lessen reliance on any one product or service.

The company said the content will be used in its free and paid content, in particular citing Ratings' focus on mutual fund information because of the high demand for this content by both users and advertisers.

Thomas J. Clarke Jr., chairman and CEO of TheStreet.com, said, "Ratings, with its proprietary quantitative models, has built an excellent reputation over the years. The company's well-regarded and easy-to-use ratings model covers many aspects of the financial landscape, which in collaboration with our distribution platform will make this transaction one of mutual benefit to our combined user base."

Bruce Fador, currently the president and CEO of Ratings, will join TheStreet.com as a senior vice president of a newly created subsidiary called TheStreet.com Ratings. The products and services of Ratings will be offered under TheStreet.com Ratings name.

"I am pleased that TheStreet.com has acquired the Ratings team along with our suite of research and ratings products," said Fador. "TheStreet.com has an outstanding reputation and a tremendous reach to investors at all levels. I am very excited about the opportunity to integrate and distribute our products to a much broader audience."

TheStreet.com was down 39 cents at $10.14 in recent trading Monday.