OUR HISTORY
Since launching in 1998 as CarsDirect.com, Internet Brands has grown to become a fully integrated online media and client services organization focused on four high-value vertical categories: Automotive, Health, Legal and Home / Travel.
The company’s award-winning consumer websites lead their categories and serve more than 100 million monthly visitors, while a full range of web presence offerings has established deep, long-term relationships with SMB and enterprise clients.
Internet Brands’ powerful, propriety operating platform provides the flexibility and scalability to fuel the company’s continued growth.
Explore key milestones in Internet Brands’ history of success below.
Internet Brands is founded as CarsDirect.com. The company is launched from Idealab, the renowned business incubator responsible for some of the Internet’s most successful companies.
The company acquires Autodata Solutions, a leading supplier of content software solutions to the automotive industry.
The company adopts the name Internet Brands and begins to accelerate its diversification and growth.
Internet Brands becomes a public company, listing on the NASDAQ exchange with ticker symbol INET.
Internet Brands is acquired by Hellman & Friedman, one of the world’s leading private equity investors in software, Internet, and digital media.
Internet Brands acquires Nolo, a market leader in consumer-friendly legal information and marketing services for lawyers.
Internet Brands establishes Chrome Data Solutions in a joint venture with DealerTrack, providing a broad spectrum of vehicle content offerings to the North American automotive retail market.
Internet Brands acquires Officite, the world’s leading provider of websites and online marketing for healthcare practices.
Internet Brands acquires Satisfacts Research, the multifamily industry’s authority on resident satisfaction and reputation management.
Internet Brands establishes a joint venture with LexisNexis Legal & Professional, bringing together Internet Brands’ Nolo legal division and LexisNexis’ Martindale-Hubbell and Lawyers.com business.
Internet Brands is acquired by leading global investment firm KKR, creating a new partnership to support the company’s continued success.
MANAGEMENT TEAM
Bob Brisco has been Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director of Internet Brands since 1999. Under his leadership, Internet Brands has grown from a start-up to serve more than 75,000 clients, engage more than 100 million unique visitors per month, and employ more than 1,200 employees.
Prior to Internet Brands, Brisco was president of Universal Studios Hollywood and CityWalk, one of the largest entertainment destinations in the world, hosting more than 10 million visitors per year. Previously, Brisco was Senior Vice President at The Los Angeles Times, responsible for over $1 billion of annual revenue. He oversaw all of The Times’ new media operations, directed the launch of LATimes.com, and was a founding board member of Classified Ventures.
Brisco was a consultant with McKinsey & Co. and the Boston Consulting Group. He has an M.B.A. from University of California at Los Angeles and an economics and journalism degree (summa cum laude) from University of Southern California.
In 2012, Brisco received an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2012 Greater Los Angeles Award from Ernst & Young.
Scott Friedman is responsible for the controllership, operational accounting, finance, planning and treasury functions for Internet Brands.
Prior to joining Internet Brands in August 2008, Friedman served as the Chief Financial Officer of WPT Enterprises, Inc., an entertainment and consumer products company, where he was responsible for the company’s financial, human resources, information systems and administrative operations. At WPT Enterprises, Friedman oversaw the development of the company’s long-term strategic plans, annual budgets, quarterly forecasts and investor relations strategy. In addition, Friedman oversaw all treasury and tax functions for the company, including cash forecasting and management, federal and state tax planning and compliance, and international tax structuring for operations in China, Israel and several European countries.
Friedman has extensive experience in finance and accounting and working with Internet and new media companies. Before joining WPT Enterprises, Inc., Friedman was Controller at Sony Pictures Digital, and previously served in various accounting and financial capacities at The Walt Disney Company.
Friedman was a Certified Public Accountant in Virginia while at Arthur Andersen, and holds Bachelor of Accountancy from George Washington University.
Chuck Hoover oversees Internet Brands’ marketing including online and offline advertising, consumer and product research, acquisition and retention strategies, and PR. He is also responsible for Internet Brands’ business development initiatives to create relationships with strategic partners and oversees advertising sales.
Hoover joined Internet Brands in December 1999 from Homestore.com, operator of the nation’s largest real estate websites. At Homestore he was responsible for consumer marketing including management of distribution partnerships with top portals and product development. Prior to Homestore, Hoover was Vice President of Marketing for PeopleLink, the first company incubated by Idealab and the leader in providing business-to-business community services.
Previously, Hoover worked at The Los Angeles Times in the Marketing and New Business Development group developing new advertising products for major retailers and entertainment companies, including the acquisition of Hollywood.com. Hoover received an M.B.A. from Stanford University and a B.A. in economics Phi Beta Kappa from Occidental College.
Lisa Morita oversees the company’s day-to-day operations including sales, customer service, pricing, and product and business strategy for the Automotive, Health, Home and Legal divisions.
Prior to joining Internet Brands in March 2007, Morita was Senior Vice President of Customer and Content Solutions at Yahoo! Search Marketing, where she was responsible for leading the customer and editorial operations that supported online advertisers who spent billions of dollars in search marketing. She led the customer operations team through the successful migration of its hundreds of thousands of online advertisers onto an entirely new platform, “Project Panama.” Morita joined GoTo.com in 2001 and scaled the operation during its rapid growth as Overture Services.
Morita has extensive marketing and general management experience in companies ranging from early stage to Fortune 500 companies. She was Senior Vice President of Marketing at eMind, LLC, where she was part of the team that grew the start-up company into a leading provider of eLearning solutions. Previously, Morita was Vice President of Advertising and Marketing at The Los Angeles Times, responsible for retail ad sales and marketing. She began her career at Carnation Company/Nestle USA in brand management running brands including the most profitable in the division.
Morita received an M.B.A. from Stanford University and earned a B.A. from Occidental College.
As Chief Technology Officer, Joe Rosenblum oversees information technology, creative services, development and architecture for Internet Brands. Rosenblum has overseen all areas of technology development for Internet Brands since 2006, when he joined the company as Vice President of Technology Development.
Prior to joining Internet Brands, Rosenblum served as Engineering Manager, Portal Applications at EarthLink, Inc., an Internet service provider, where he managed a team of software engineers through all aspects of development for EarthLink Search and myEarthLink. As a staff engineer at EarthLink, he architected and oversaw implementation of “Private Labeling” of the EarthLink Personal Start Page for MCI. Rosenblum started at EarthLink Search in September 2002 as senior software engineer.
Previously, Rosenblum served as a software engineer and technical lead at Epinions.com, Inc., an Internet company for consumer reviews and price information. Rosenblum has both a B.A. and a master’s degree from Stanford University.
Lynn Walsh is responsible for structuring and negotiating acquisitions and strategic partnerships and oversees all human resource, legal, and regulatory aspects of Internet Brands’ business.
Prior to joining Internet Brands in 2000, Walsh was a partner in the Technology group at Alston & Bird LLP in Atlanta, Georgia, where she specialized in public and private offerings of securities, mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance.
Previously, Walsh was a partner at Hunton & Williams in Atlanta. She received her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from Wayne State University Law School.
As President and Chief Executive Officer since 1993, Greg Perrier has built Autodata Solutions into one of North America’s largest software and services boutiques focused on the automotive industry. The company, which Internet Brands acquired in mid-1999, serves every manufacturer in North America from Acura to Volvo through its diverse suite of products and services. Autodata’s products and services help auto manufacturers throughout all stages of the selling-chain from market analytics, product planning, vehicle configuration management, order placement, in-dealership retail systems, and dealership personnel training, to consumer-facing web sites.
Perrier earned an honors degree in business from the Ivey School of Business in 1984 and immediately following, served as a consultant with Price Waterhouse.