Google Decides to Sell Restaurant Review Company Zagat

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Google — owned by Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG,NASDAQ:GOOGL) — announced that it would be selling its restaurant review company Zagat.

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The tech giant said it will be selling the restaurant review juggernaut to The Infatuation, a review site that was founded in 2009 by former music executives. It is unclear how much Google is selling Zagat for, but the company first acquired the recommendation service in 2011 for $151 million.

Rumors of a sale had been going around since earlier this year, and Google decided to finally pull the trigger due to the fact that its own restaurant recommendations database has been on the rise for a while. Zagat has also lost some of its luster and is no longer the major player in the industry.

The company first acquired the restaurant review service to help revamp the restaurant offerings in Google+, back when the company was hoping to compete with other major social media sites. A lot of the tech company’s restaurant recommendations appear on Google Maps now to help nearby residents and visitors to learn about food sites.

Google thought about trying to launch an IPO for Zagat back in 2016 when it revamped the review app with individually tailored results, but it didn’t come to fruition. The Infatuation relies on an in-house team of reviewers to write reviews for restaurants in New York, San Francisco, London and other major cities.

GOOG stock gained 1.4% Monday, while GOOGL shares surged 1.5%.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2018/03/google-zagat-alphabet-inc-googl/.

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