Bankrate, Inc. Announces the Acquisition of Bankaholic

Conference Call Scheduled Today At 4:30 P.M. ET

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Bankrate, Inc. (Nasdaq: RATE)
announced today it has acquired Bankaholic, a Web site owned by Blackshore
Properties, Inc. Bankaholic provides rate information on savings products,
such as certificates of deposit, savings accounts, and money market accounts,
as well as insurance quotes and a comparison of the best credit card offers,
which are currently powered by Bankrate. In addition, Bankaholic offers
consumers advice and information that allows consumers to comment and rate
banks and their promotions through social networking features. Bankrate paid
$12.4 million for Bankaholic, with up to an additional $2.5 million
earn-out payment available for the attainment of certain performance metrics
in the next 12 months.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040122/FLTHLOGO )
"We have been working with Bankaholic in a co-brand relationship since
July and have seen first-hand the volume and quality of its traffic," stated
Thomas R. Evans, President and CEO of Bankrate. "Bankaholic is ranked high in
natural search for both deposit and credit card keywords. We believe their
organic traffic will increase our deposit and credit card revenue, and with a
high composition of free traffic, will help to improve margins," Mr. Evans
added.
Bankrate will take over the operation and management of the Bankaholic Web
site immediately. John Wu, the founder of Bankaholic, is the sole employee
and will work with the company for a specified period of time during the
transition.
Bankrate will hold a brief conference call today at 4:30 p.m. ET to
discuss the Bankaholic acquisition and provide an update of the current state
of the company's business.
Conference Call Dial-In Information:
To participate in the teleconference please dial: (913) 312-1483.
International callers should dial: (888) 245-0987. Please access the call at
least 10 minutes prior to the time the conference is set to begin.
Conference Call Replay Information:
A replay of the conference call will be available beginning September 23,
2008 at 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT through October 6, 2008. To listen to the
replay, call (719) 457-0820 and use the pass code: 7324962. International
callers should dial (888) 203-1112 and enter the pass code: 7324962.
About Bankrate, Inc. (Nasdaq: RATE)
The Bankrate network of companies includes Bankrate.com, Interest.com,
Mortgage-calc.com, Nationwide Card Services, Savingforcollege.com, Fee
Disclosure and InsureMe. Each of these businesses helps consumers to make
informed decisions about their personal finance matters. The company's
flagship brand, Bankrate.com is a destination site of personal finance
channels, including banking, investing, taxes, debt management and college
finance. Bankrate.com is the leading aggregator of rates and other information
on more than 300 financial products, including mortgages, credit cards, new
and used auto loans, money market accounts and CDs, checking and ATM fees,
home equity loans and online banking fees. Bankrate.com reviews more than
4,800 financial institutions in 575 markets in 50 states. In 2007,
Bankrate.com had nearly 60 million unique visitors. Bankrate.com provides
financial applications and information to a network of more than 75 partners,
including Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO), America Online (NYSE: TWX), The Wall Street
Journal and The New York Times (NYSE: NYT). Bankrate.com's information is also
distributed through more than 500 newspapers.
Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995:
Certain matters included in the discussion above may be considered to be
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933
and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements include statements regarding
the intent, belief or current expectations of the Company and members of our
management team. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation,
statements made with respect to future revenue, revenue growth, market
acceptance of our products, and profitability. Investors and prospective
investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not
guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that
actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-
looking statements. Important factors currently known to management that could
cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking
statements include the following: the willingness of our advertisers to
advertise on our web site, interest rate volatility, our ability to establish
and maintain distribution arrangements, our ability to integrate the
operations and realize the expected benefits of businesses that we have
acquired and may acquire in the future, our ability to maintain the confidence
of our advertisers by detecting click-through fraud or unscrupulous
advertisers, the effect of unexpected liabilities we assume from our
acquisitions, the effects of expanding our operations internationally, the
ability of consumers to access our Online Network through non-PC devices, our
ability to manage traffic on our Online Network and service interruptions,
increased competition and its effect on traffic, advertising rates, margins
and market share, our ability to protect our intellectual property, the
effects of facing liability for content on our Online Network, the
concentration of ownership of our common stock, the fluctuations of our
results of operations from period to period, the accuracy of our financial
statement estimates and assumptions, our ability to adapt to technological
changes, the impact of legislative or regulatory changes affecting our
business, changes in consumer spending and saving habits, changes in
accounting principles, policies, practices or guidelines, effects of changes
in the stock market and other capital markets, the strength of the United
States economy in general. These and additional important factors to be
considered are set forth under "Introductory Note," "Item 1A. Risk Factors,"
"Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and
Results of Operations" and in the other sections of our Annual Report on Form
10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, and in our other filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update or
revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the
occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results or
expectations.
For more information contact:
Bruce J. Zanca
SVP, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer
bzanca@bankrate.com
(917) 368-8648

SOURCE Bankrate, Inc.

Bruce J. Zanca, SVP, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of Bankrate,
Inc., +1-917-368-8648, bzanca@bankrate.com