Angi Inc. (formerly ANGI Homeservices Inc.) is an internet services company formed in 2017 by the merger of Angie's List and
HomeAdvisor.
The company has its earliest roots in American home services website Angie's List, founded in 1995 as an online directory that allows users to read and publish
crowd-sourced
Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digit ...
reviews of local businesses and contractors.
For the
quarter ending on June 30, 2018, ANGI reported total revenue of US$1,132,000,000 and a net income of US$77,507,000.
[Yahoo Finance, August 23, 201](_blank)
/ref> On May 1, 2017, ''The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' reported that IAC planned to buy Angie's List. By September 2017 the new publicly traded company was called ANGI Homeservices Inc. Shares started trading in early October, 2017.
In March 2019, Angi moved its corporate headquarters to Denver
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
, Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
.
History
William S. Oesterle and Angie Hicks founded Angie's List in 1995. The idea resulted from Hicks's search for a reliable construction contractor in suburban Columbus, Ohio
Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...
, on behalf of Oesterle, a venture capital
Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...
ist who was Hicks's boss. Hicks moved to Columbus to join Oesterle in creating Columbus Neighbors, a call-in service, and publication with reviews of local home and lawn care services. The name and concept were based on Unified Neighbors in Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
. Hicks went door-to-door, signing up consumers as members and collecting ratings of local contractors. After Hicks recruited over 1,000 members in Columbus within one year, she turned to Oesterle to raise money from investors to develop the business.
In 2013, Angie's List investors worried that the company had been in business for more than 18 years, yet never had shown an annual profit and that valuations of the company were unrealistic based on the actual revenue the company produces. But by 2015 growth estimates indicate a significant earnings-per-share growth, with a long-term growth rate at 19%. Combine this with stock estimates rising in 2015 by 13.3%, some Securities research
Security (finance), Securities research is a discipline within the financial services industry. Securities research professionals are known most generally as "analysts", "research analysts", or "securities analysts"; all the foregoing terms ar ...
firms such as Zacks Investment Research indicated ANGI is well-positioned for future earnings growth.
HomeAdvisor
In 1998, ServiceMagic was founded by Rodney Rice and Michael Beaudoin who were part of the founding management team of Einstein Bros Bagels. In 2004, IAC acquired the website for an undisclosed price.
On July 22, 2004, IAC acquired ServiceMagic. In October 2008, ServiceMagic acquired the French business 123Devis.com and Travaux.com, as well as UK business 123GetAQuote.co.uk to create ServiceMagic Europe. In March 2009, the UK business was rebranded as ServiceMagic.co.uk.
In 2012, the firm changed its name to HomeAdvisor.
In 2013, HomeAdvisor acquired Werkspot.nl, the leading Dutch home improvement platform. In 2014, Werkspot.nl opens her twin company in Italy: Instapro.
By 2015, the firm had achieved more than $300 million in annual revenue, been used by more than 30 million homeowners, had nearly 100,000 pre-screened service professionals in its network and almost 3 million verified reviews.
In 2016, HomeAdvisor acquired the German home services company, MyHammer. In 2017, it acquired Canada's leading home services platform, HomeStars, and MyBuilder, the UK's leading home services platform connecting homeowners and tradesmen.
Angi
In 1996, the company bought Unified Neighbors from its creator and moved the company's headquarters to Indianapolis.
In 2010, Angie's List raised a total of $25 million in capital from investors. In September 2010, Wasatch Funds and Battery Ventures
Battery Ventures is a global, technology-focused investment firm. Founded in 1983, the firm makes venture-capital and private-equity investments in markets across the globe from offices in Boston, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Israel and Lond ...
invested $22 million. In November 2010, Saints Capital led an additional funding of $2.5 million.
On November 17, 2011, the firm began trading on the NASDAQ
The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...
exchange under the ticker symbol ANGI. It priced 8.8M shares at $13 and opened for trading at $18, a 33% premium.
In July 2016, Angie's List was made a freemium
Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium", is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical ( ...
service; the basic membership tier, with access to more than 10 million reviews, was made free, alongside subscription tiers offering additional functionality.
On October 2, 2017, IAC announced that it had agreed to acquire Angie's List for $781.4 million. and it merged Angie's List and HomeAdvisor, renaming the merged company to ANGI Homeservices, retaining Angie's List ticker symbol and stock history.
In October 2018, ANGI Homeservices bought Handy for $165.5 million. In March 2021, Angie's List changed its name to Angi, and ANGI Homeservices Inc. changed its name to Angi Inc.
In May 2023, William Oesterle, who co-founded the company with Angie Hicks, died.
Lawsuits
In 2014, Angie's List Inc. paid $2.8 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that it automatically renewed members at a higher rate than they were led to believe.
In August 2016, HomeAdvisor has agreed to settle three lawsuits for a payment of $1,400,000. The class action lawsuits focused on HomeAdvisor acceptance of advertising payments from service providers, and whether those payments affect service providers’ letter-grade ratings, reviews, and place in search-result rankings. HomeAdvisor denies plaintiffs’ claims, but disclosed that revenue from service providers can affect the order of search-result rankings of the service provider under certain settings (Moore vs. AngiesList).
References
External links
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{{IAC
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
Consumer guides
Companies based in Denver
Online marketplaces of the United States
American review websites
American companies established in 1995
Internet properties established in 1995
1995 establishments in Ohio
2011 initial public offerings
IAC Inc.