Who owns Ancestry.com? The web site is owned by Blackstone, a number one world funding agency. Blackstone acquired a majority stake in Ancestry from Silver Lake, GIC, Spectrum Fairness, and different present traders in December 2020. Because of this, Blackstone now holds the first possession of Ancestry, which operates as a personal firm that focuses on household historical past analysis and genealogical companies.

Firm Historical past

Ancestry.com is a web based family tree platform that helps people discover their household historical past and heritage. With its headquarters in Lehi, Utah, USA, the corporate has gone by way of varied possession modifications through the years.

1. Based in 1983 by John Sittner, Ancestry.com started as a publishing firm named Ancestry Publishing Firm. It advanced from offering household history-related magazines and books to launching its early family tree database software program, which marked the beginning of the corporate’s digital journey.
2. In 1996, Ancestry.com went on to launch its official web site and have become one of many main family tree web sites. This milestone laid the muse for the corporate’s subsequent development and introduced forth traders like Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft.
3. In 2007, Spectrum Fairness Traders, a personal fairness agency, purchased a majority stake in Ancestry.com for round $300 million. The corporate went public in 2009, with its shares buying and selling on NASDAQ below the ticker ACOM.
4. In 2012, Ancestry.com was acquired by a European personal fairness firm referred to as Permira Advisers for $1.6 billion. This acquisition turned Ancestry.com right into a privately held firm, and its inventory was delisted from NASDAQ.
5. Later in 2016, Silver Lake, a personal fairness agency, and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, invested within the firm, turning into vital stakeholders.
6. In 2020, Blackstone Group, a multinational personal fairness agency, introduced its resolution to accumulate a majority stake in Ancestry.com for $4.7 billion, taking on from the earlier traders – Silver Lake, GIC, and others. Presently, Blackstone Group is almost all proprietor of Ancestry.com. In conclusion, the possession of Ancestry.com has advanced considerably since its inception.

At the moment, the bulk proprietor of Ancestry.com is the Blackstone Group, after having acquired its majority stake in 2020.

Who was the founder?

Ancestry.com was initially based as Infobases by Paul Brent Allen and Dan Taggart in 1983. Paul Brent Allen is a pc programmer and entrepreneur from Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah. He graduated from Brigham Younger College in 1984, the place he studied laptop science.

Allen labored on a number of initiatives at Brigham Younger College involving family tree information and seen the rising demand for household historical past data. Infobases initially targeted on offering a platform for digitizing and distributing content material on digital media akin to floppy disks. In 1987, they started engaged on creating databases targeted on family tree, which ultimately led to the launch of Ancestry.com in 1996.

The corporate later modified its identify and ultimately turned identified as The Generations Community in 2007. It was then offered to Permira, a European personal fairness agency, in 2012 and has been owned by varied funding companies since then. Because the co-founder of Ancestry.com, Paul Brent Allen performed a big function within the improvement and popularization of family tree analysis by way of the usage of expertise.

Along with his work with Ancestry.com, Allen has been concerned in varied expertise and web ventures over his profession, together with founding MyFamily.com, 10x Advertising, Provo Labs, and FamilyLink.com. He has additionally served as a mentor and advisor to many startups and entrepreneurs.

Incessantly Requested Questions (FAQ)

Who owns Ancestry.com?

Ancestry.com is at the moment owned by Blackstone, a personal fairness agency that acquired a majority stake within the firm in 2020.

When was Ancestry.com based?

Ancestry.com was based in 1983 as Ancestry Publishing, later transitioning into an on-line enterprise in 1996 and formally turning into Ancestry.com.

What subscription plans does Ancestry.com provide?

Ancestry.com gives a number of subscription plans, together with U.S. Discovery, which covers U.S. data, World Explorer, which covers world data, and All Entry, which gives entry to all out there data, in addition to newspapers and Fold3 army data.

Can I cancel my Ancestry.com subscription at any time?

Sure, you may cancel your Ancestry.com subscription at any time by visiting your account settings. You’ll proceed to have entry to the subscription till the tip of your present billing interval.

How do I contact Ancestry.com buyer help?

You may contact Ancestry.com buyer help by visiting their help web page on their web site and clicking on the “Contact Us” hyperlink. Alternatively, you may name them at 1-800-ANCESTRY (1-800-262-3787) for help.

Sources for Extra Data

Featured picture offered by Mehmet Turgut Kirkgoz; Pexels; Thanks!