Veronis Suhler Stevenson Announces Majority Investment in Vault.com Inc.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Veronis Suhler Stevenson (“VSS”), a leading private equity investor in the media, communications, information and education industries, today announced the signing of definitive documentation for the acquisition of a majority stake in Vault.com Inc., a leader in online career information for more than 30 professional industries ranging from investment banking, consulting and real estate to law, government and media. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

VSS is joined by veteran media executive Erik Sorenson, Ledgemont Capital, and the company’s senior management team in making the investment. Sorenson, the former President of MSNBC, will become CEO of the company following the close of the transaction.

The transaction is being financed with funds drawn from VSS Communications Partners IV, L.P., a $1.3 billion private equity fund managed by VSS. All of Vault’s founders and senior executives will remain significant shareholders in the company and will remain part of the management team led by Sorenson.

Vault.com was founded in 1996 by Samer Hamadeh, his brother Hussam Hamadeh, and Mark Oldman. Since that time, the company has grown rapidly, emerging as the leading media company for career and admissions information. Fortune calls Vault.com “the best place on the Web to prepare for a job search,” while The New York Times deems it a “killer app”.

“We are pleased to join with VSS to generate liquidity for our shareholders and position Vault for significant global expansion,” said Vault’s three founders in a joint statement. “VSS’s unique mix of long-term focus, media experience, and M&A competence will allow us to capitalize on the burgeoning trend of career and admissions prep and create a company for the generations.”

Vault’s departing chairman, Eric Ober – a former president of CBS News and 35-year media executive – said, “VSS’s commitment creates a remarkable opportunity for Vault to capitalize on its expertise and credibility and become the dominant cross-platform player in the job and career space.”

Added Sorenson, “Career choices and career development are critical to people of all ages, especially those between the ages of 18 and 34. Vault’s content for this audience is unsurpassed, making it a tremendous platform for building a world-wide, world-class digital media business benefitting consumers, recruiters and advertisers.”

“We are delighted to be partnering with Vault’s current senior management team, Erik Sorenson and Ledgemont Capital in the next phase of Vault’s growth. Vault is a very well recognized leader in the online career information sector and we believe the company has significant growth prospects, both internally and through strategic add-on acquisitions,” commented VSS Managing Director Trent Hickman.

The acquisition of Vault is a new platform investment for VSS. Together with Vault’s three founders, experienced senior managers and Erik Sorenson, VSS will work to further enhance the company’s market leading products and services. Following a “buy-and-build” investment approach, VSS identifies and acquires platform companies that hold a strong market position in attractive verticals, and then builds scale aggressively, both through internal expansion, organic growth, and strategic acquisitions.

VSS received legal advice on the transaction from Proskauer Rose LLP and accounting advice from KPMG LLP. Vault received legal advice on the transaction from Black & Associates and Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP.

About Veronis Suhler Stevenson

Veronis Suhler Stevenson (www.vss.com) is a private equity firm that invests buyout and structured capital funds in the media, communications, information and education industries in North America and Europe. VSS provides capital for buyouts, recapitalizations, growth financings and strategic acquisitions to companies and management teams with a goal to build companies both organically and through a focused add-on acquisition program. To date, VSS equity and structured capital funds have invested in over 54 platform companies, which have in turn completed over 230 add-on acquisitions resulting in a portfolio with realized and unrealized enterprise values in excess of $12 billion.

About Ledgemont Capital

Ledgemont Capital Group LLC (www.ledgemontcapital.com) is a boutique merchant bank that provides capital access and corporate advisory services throughout the lifecycle of public and private companies. With an approach modeled on our principal investment experience, its goal is to combine intelligent strategy with efficient deal execution to give its clients the resources for sustainable success.

About Erik Sorenson

Erik Sorenson has won more than twenty Emmy awards as a writer, producer, and television executive. After 17 years as a television news producer at CBS News and producer and executive for the CBS stations group, he went on to serve as EVP of Programming for Court TV and then President and General Manager of MSNBC for six years, supervising a staff of more than 500 employees. He has produced programs hosted by Tom Brokaw, Katie Couric, Dan Rather, Harry Smith, Chris Matthews, Brian Williams, Bill Kurtis, Gene Siskel, Paula Zahn, Phil Donahue, and Keith Olbermann. He’s held a lifelong fascination with career development and is widely regarded as an expert on media strategy and industry trends, with experience spanning radio, local and network broadcast television, cable and syndicated TV, and the internet.

About Vault.com

Celebrating its tenth anniversary, Vault.com Inc. is the leading media company focused on careers. Vault offers over 100 online and print books, from the best-selling Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms to the Vault Guide to Schmoozing. Vault is celebrated for its online resource, www.vault.com -- which offers surveys and "insider" information on more than 4,500 employers, 4,000 colleges and universities, and hundreds of industries and occupations -- as well as the much-praised Electronic WaterCooler™, the Internet’s first-ever network of message boards for professionals with nearly 2,000,000 searchable posts. Its clients include nearly 1,000 advertisers and recruiters, over 800 universities and graduate schools, and over 100,000 consumers. Maintaining offices in New York, London, and Hong Kong, Vault was founded in 1996 by Hussam Hamadeh, Samer Hamadeh, and Mark Oldman.