Australia’s Freelancer.com is on a shopping spree; after buying Zlecenia and Fantero, it has now acquired Warrior Forum. Which firm will be next?
Australia-based freelance jobs portal Freelancer has today announced acquiring Warrior Forum, a 17-year-old American internet marketing forum and marketplace for US$3.2 million. The funds have come from the existing cash reserves of Freelancer, which is now a publicly listed company.
This is the second acquisition deal Freelancer has announced this month, following early-April’s announcement of buying Fantero, a virtual content marketplace. In March, it also acquired Polish jobs marketplace Zlecenia for an undisclosed amount.
Based on a normalised revenue run rate, which sees an implied price to sales multiple of 3x, it can be inferred that Warrior Forum, which has more than 732,000 users, was generating US$1 million in revenues. Typically, Warrior Forum generates revenue via forum access fees, self-serve advertising and listing fees for marketplace items, like websites, domain names and the hiring of freelancers, said an official statement.
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While Freelancer will allow the acquired company to run independently, it will now be dedicating a team and resources to boost Warrior Forum. The acquisition was motivated by Warrior Forum’s ability to complement Freelancer as a community-centric platform, said Matt Barrie, CEO and Chairman, Freelancer, in the same statement.
According to Alexa, the US is Warrior Forum’s top market, and accounts for 37.2 per cent of visitors. Its second biggest market belongs to India, which accounts for 10.8 per cent of visitors to the website.
India is Freelancer’s top market in terms of users, shared Willix Halim, VP, Growth, Freelancer.
Clifton Allen Says Jr, Founder, Warrior Forum also announced the new arrangement on the Forum. Read his announcement here:
Hi everyone,
I started Warrior Forum back in 1997 with the goal of creating a community of like minded internet marketers to share ideas, learn from each other and build their online empires. In 17 years, I am proud to say that our community has grown to over 732,000 members strong, making us the world’s largest internet marketing forum.
Today I am happy to announce that Warrior Forum will become part of the Freelancer.com family. I’ve spent a long time thinking about what the best next step should be and I feel certain that Freelancer.com will be able to provide Warrior Forum with the resources, energy and time required to continue the community and improve it to make it even bigger and better.
Freelancer.com is the world’s largest outsourcing and freelancing marketplace with a community of over 10.8 million skilled professionals from all over the globe. They are growing quickly and have participated in forums just like you and I.
Warrior Forum will remain independent to Freelancer.com and will have a separate dedicated team to better support you. I know they are excited to be joining our great community and will be working alongside us to take Warrior Forum to the next level. You’ll receive an introduction email from Freelancer.com shortly.
I look forward to this exciting new phase of Warrior Forum and hope you can join me in welcoming Freelancer.com!
- Allen Says
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