September 12, 2003 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- iNET Interactive (inetinteractive.com), a Web portal firm led by former Communitech.NET co-founder and president Gabriel Murphy, said today it had purchased Webhostingtalk.com (webhostingtalk.com) from Texas-based Everyones Internet, RackShack's parent firm.
"We are very excited about the addition of Web Hosting Talk to our network," said Ryan Elledge, president of iNET Interactive, in a statement. "This acquisition extends our reach to over 22 million monthly page views through 6.3 million unique visitors. What's more, we see a strong synergy between Web Hosting Talk and our other Web destinations."
Although exact details of the transaction were not disclosed, the companies said that RackShack, a discount dedicated hosting firm changing its name to EV1 Servers (ev1servers.net) next month, will provide Web hosting to iNET Interactive's Web site properties and maintain a multi-year advertising presence throughout iNET's network. iNET's other major sites include Hotscripts.com, a popular programming resource destination.
Web Hosting Talk is one of the most popular Web sites on the Internet, and a leading Web hosting community forum with over 1.43 million posts on 180,000 topics from over 45,00 members.
Everyones Internet's ownership of the popular community forum was short lived. The Texas-based firm first announced its intentions to purchase the media property April 2, 2002.
"It's been a privilege for EV1Servers to be a part of Web Hosting Talk," said CEO Robert Marsh in a statement. "While we look forward to continuing our active forum participation, we now leave its management in iNET's good hands. iNET brings to Web Hosting Talk an experienced management team that's dedicated to supporting and growing the community."
In a post to forum members, Marsh said the site added more than 4,000 new members and 250,000 posts over the past three months. "It's RackShack's goal and iNET's to continue growing and improving WHT so that it continues to be an invaluable community resource," he said.
According to iNET's press release, Everyones Internet sold the site to concentrate on its Internet services business. However, Elledge said in an interview today that Marsh would remain a forum moderator, and that no changes were planned for the site. "Our plan for Web Hosting Talk is to continue it as it is. It's a very popular resource for the Web hosting industry for a reason," he said. "The moderators do an outstanding job... we have no plans for any changes to Web Hosting Talk."
Web Hosting Talk was founded by Matthew Freeman in March 2000.
According to Alexa.com (alexa.com), Web Hosting Talk is currently the 765th most popular Web site on the Internet.
