Boats.com

boats.com

Headquarters	Miami, Florida
Owner	Permira
URL	www.boats.com
Commercial	Yes
Registration	Optional
Launched	1999
Current status	Online

boats.com is an online advertising website based in Miami, Florida, United States. ^[1] It also has operations in Fareham and Padua. ^[2] The company has websites in nine markets and eight languages, listing over 350,000 boats in approximately 152 countries.

History

• boats.com, Inc was founded by Paul R. Rabe and Stu Johnstone, in 1999, a private, venture capital funded business located at Pier 38, The Embarcadero, in San Francisco. In August, a venture capital funding round generated a $21 million second-round investment. ^[3]
• January 2000, boats.com, Inc. agreed from the Cobalt Group (NASDAQ: CBLT) to acquire YachtWorld.com, a popular online yachting marketplace, the first Internet content deal within the boating industry. ^[4]
• May 2004, British Marine Federation (BMF) support for boats.com European Marine Industry Web Awards ^[5]
• In September 2004, Boats.com, Inc was purchased by Trader Publishing Company, ^[6] a joint business venture of Landmark Media Enterprises and Cox Enterprises.
• In September 2006, Landmark Media Enterprises and Cox Enterprises split the assets of Trader Publishing and YachtWorld became part of Dominion Marine Media, a subsidiary of Dominion Enterprises, LLC which was in turn a subsidiary of Landmark Media Enterprises.
• In January 2013, the Royal Yachting Association launched the RYA Classifieds service which is powered by boats.com. ^[7]
• February 17, 2017, parent of boats.com, Dominion Marine Media (DMM), which was acquired by Apax Partners in 2016, ^[8] was rebranded to Boats Group, LLC. ^[9]
• February 17, 2017, Sam Fulton is CEO at Boats Group, which includes the leading marine brands of YachtWorld, Boat Trader, boats.com, Cosas de Barcos and YachtCloser. ^[10]
• June 1, 2017, boats.com and Boats Group moved headquarters to Miami. ^[1]
• April 2023, Patrick Kolek is CEO at Boats Group.

References

1. Miami Herald. "Boats Group moves headquarters". Miami Herald. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
2. "Company Information". Business Week. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
3. PR News Wire. "Boats.com Secures $21 Million Second-Round Investment From Top Venture Capital, Marine and Technology Businesses". IBI News. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
4. PR News Wire. "Boats.com Acquires YachtWorld.com". PR News Wire. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
5. BMF. "British Marine Federation (BMF) support for boats.com European Marine Industry Web Awards". Bristish Marine. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
6. IBI News. "Company Information". IBI News. Archived from the original on 2010-06-10. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
7. RYA. "RYA launches new 'RYA Classifieds' powered by boats.com". Royal Yachting Association (RYA). Retrieved 13 December 2013.
8. Cooper, Laura. "Apax to Buy Dominion Marine Media". WSJ. Retrieved 2024-05-31.
9. Boats Group (17 February 2017). "Dominion Marine Media Announces Company Name Change to Boats Group". Boats Group. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
10. Apax Partners (17 February 2017). "Boats Group". Apax Partners. Retrieved 3 March 2017.

External links

• Official website