Jupitermedia Folds Up Mediabistro For $23 Million

What started as a way to connect media types with employers through a series of cocktail parties evolved into Mediabistro. Laurel Touby turned her website into a nice payday.

The deal with Jupitermedia pays $20 million up front for Mediabistro. Over two years, Jupitermedia will pay an additional $3 million.

Touby won’t depart from the web to spend her days arranging parties. She will remain with the company as senior vice president under terms of the purchase.

Rafat Ali at Paid Content said the sale culminated after a long auction process and multiple parties expressing interest in Mediabistro. The $23 million price tag hewed closely to last year’s valuation.

“This comes close to what the company hoped for ($25 million or so) when it started the M&A process in early 2006, though one would have expected the valuation to go up in the almost two years since then,” he said.

The acquisition represents Jupitermedia’s second job site purchase since late last year, when Alan Meckler’s company purchased JustTechJobs.com