Family Puts Zagat Empire Up for Sale

Unable to gain traction online, founders ask Goldman to find a buyer
By Lucas Laursen,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 14, 2008 9:55 AM CST
Family Puts Zagat Empire Up for Sale
The 2008 Zagat, New York's leading food guide, is on display here. Its owners are looking to sell out.   (Getty Images)

The founders and publishers of the Zagat guides have hired Goldman Sachs to find a buyer for their stake in the company, reports the New York Times. The value of the international icon may top $200 million—not bad for a company that grew out of a two-page typed list, but chump change for a media behemoth such as Citysearch parent IAC or a credit card company.

The enterprise was valued at $100 million in 2000, when the Zagat family sold one-third to a private equity group. Zagat sold 5.5 million guidebooks last year in more than 100 countries and has 1.5 million registered online users, but it may have hit a wall. "It’s a fabulous brand," says a friend and retired ad exec, "but they need the kind of resources that organic growth cannot sustain." (More Zagats stories.)

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