eHouse Buys Back Damochka.ru and BannerBank From Rambler

eHouse Holding, the Russian online retailing giant, has acquired two internet properties in a buy-back from Rambler Media. eHouse originally sold a 51% in Paintium, which operated the two properties, to Rambler for $3.3 million in mid 2006. Despite the high price tag, Rambler Media never manged to integrate Damochka.ru and BannerBank into its operations and decided to sell them back for $200,000. eHouse plans to get Damochka.ru up and running again as an online shopping club.

Paintium (www.damochka.ru and BannerBank – www.bb.ru)
Damochka.ru and BannerBank are two Russian internet properties that have been operated by Paintium for the last several years. Damochka.ru, the online dating and social networking site founded in 2001, reported 700,000 active members in 2006 though recent figures show it averaging only 300,000 monthly visitors. BaanerBank in a banner exchange and advertising network using what the portal terms a “Virtual Banner Network”. Advertisers can use the system create banner ads and work with publishers to place them in a targeted manner.

Rambler Media (www.rambler.ru)
Rambler Media is a holding company for a group of internet related ventures including Rambler.ru, the company’s flagship portal. Launched in 2004, Rambler Media’s properties combine for a total of more than 45 million unique visitors monthly, making it one of Russia’s leading internet groups catering to the Russian-speaking market.

Other Rambler brands include Begun, a contextual advertising company, online newspaper Lenta.ru, consumer review site Price.ru, Rambler-ICQ instant messaging, and web navigation system Top 100. Rambler’s revenue is generated from the sale of advertising on its sites.

eHouse Holding
eHouse Holding was established in 2000 as an internet retailer and now finds itself Russia’s largest, operating 27different internet properties. eHouse sites carry everything from computers and consumer electronics to books, baby items, perfume and cosmetics, multimedia products, office supplies, and travel services.