This is great news for the entire industry. The Wall Street Journal ran a story on it was well.
http://www.getbig.com/headlinesAnd from the WJS:
Deal for Controlling Stake In Bodybuilding.com Comes As Retail Sales Shift to WebBy JESSICA E. VASCELLARO
January 7, 2008; Page B5
Liberty Media Corp., in the latest move to beef up its portfolio of Internet businesses, is expected to announce today that it has bought a controlling stake in sports-nutrition retailer and fitness Web-site operator Bodybuilding.com LLC.
Liberty is paying more than $100 million to buy the stake from the site's founding family and a private-equity firm, according to a person familiar with the matter, although it isn't expected to disclose terms.
Once known primarily as an investor in media companies, Liberty has taken steps in recent years to become more of an operator of its own businesses. In the past couple of years it has assembled a sizable portfolio of Internet ventures to complement its QVC home-shopping network, whose growth has slowed as retail sales shift to the Web. Last year, Liberty purchased Buyseasons Inc., which operates an online costume site, and a controlling stake in Backcountry.com, an outdoor and action-sports retailer. In 2006 Liberty paid nearly $500 million to buy Internet flower and food seller Provide Commerce Inc.
Liberty Chief Executive Gregory Maffei said the company is committed to acquiring more high-growth Internet businesses targeted at narrow customer segments, viewing them as highly attractive as audiences fragment online. "We would do as many such deals as we could get our hands on," he said, stressing that the number of independent companies that meet those criteria is relatively small.
Bodybuilding.com, a closely held company in Meridian, Idaho, was in Liberty's sweet spot. The company sells a range of fitness supplements, clothing and supplies for exercise buffs, competing with large national chains including General Nutrition Centers Inc. and Vitamin Shoppe. Founded in 1999 by CEO Ryan DeLuca and other members of his family, the company's Web site also features articles on health and fitness and BodySpace, a social network where more than 100,000 users post pictures of their bulging muscles and swap exercise goals.
Bodybuilding.com had roughly two million unique monthly visitors in November, according to Web-tracking firm comScore Inc., up 35% from the year-earlier month. Its sales are increasing at more than 60% a year, according to Liberty and Mr. DeLuca, and are expected to top $100 million in 2008. Mr. DeLuca's family sold a 60% interest in the company to Milestone Partners, a Pennsylvania private-equity firm, in 2006.
For the most part, Liberty has left its Internet businesses to run largely on their own, only occasionally selling their products on QVC and the shopping network's Web site. But Liberty hopes Bodybuilding.com will benefit by tapping into QVC's direct-marketing and video-commerce experience, according to Michael Zeisser, senior vice president at Liberty, who has been talking to Mr. DeLuca about a possible deal for more than a year. "QVC really knows how to create television-based product videos that get consumers to pick up the phone," Mr. Zeisser said.
The deal comes as Liberty awaits a possible further shake-up of its portfolio of businesses, which include Starz Entertainment and investments in media companies. Liberty is awaiting regulatory clearance to complete its acquisition of a roughly 40% stake in DirecTV Group Inc.
