Ancestry.com

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ancestry.com Inc.
Company typePrivately held company
IndustryOnline services
Genealogy
Online publishing
Software publishing
Founded1983
HeadquartersProvo, Utah, US
Key people
Tim Sullivan, President/CEO[1]
ProductsAncestry.com
Archives.com
Family Tree Maker software
Fold3.com
Genealogy.com
MyFamily.com
Newspapers.com
Rootsweb.com
RevenueUS $399.7 million (2011)
OwnerPermira and co-investors
Number of employees
Over 1,000 worldwide (2012)
WebsiteInternational:
corporate.ancestry.com
Europe:
ancestryeurope.lu

Ancestry.com Inc. (formerly The Generations Network) is a private held Internet company. It is based in Provo, Utah, United States. It is the largest for-profit genealogy company in the world. The company operates a network of genealogical and historical record websites.[2] These websites are focused on the United States and nine foreign countries. The company also develops and markets genealogical software, as well as other genealogical related services. As of December 2013, the company provided approximately 12.7 billion records and had 2.14 million paying subscribers. The website includes 191 million uploaded photos and more than 16 million uploaded stories. These were provided by people who use their website.[3]

The company operates other websites including Archives.com, Fold3.com, ProGenealogists, 1000memories.com, Newspapers.com, Genealogy.com, MyFamily.com, and Rootsweb.com.[4] Family Tree Maker was created by the company that advertised it as "the #1 selling family history software". Ancestry.com operates foreign sites that provide access to services and records specific to other countries in the languages of those countries. These include several countries in Europe (covered by Ancestry.com Europe S.à r.l.[5]) as well as Australia, Canada, and China.

History[change | change source]

On January 1, 1997, Infobases' parent company, Western Standard Publishing, purchased Ancestry, Inc.[6] The website was a publisher of Ancestry magazine and genealogy books. The website was founded in 1983 by John Sittner. Originally, the website was a newsletter about genealogy. The Ancestry magazine had been launched in January 1994. Western Standard Publishing's CEO was Joe Cannon. He was the main owners of Geneva Steel.[7] In July 1997, Allen and Taggart purchased Western Standard's interest in Ancestry, Inc. That same month, Ancestry, Inc., purchased Bookcraft, Inc., a publisher of books written by leaders and officers of the LDS Church.[8][9] By this time, Allen and Taggart began operating Ancestry, Inc. independently.[10]

The MyFamily.com website launched in December 1998. More free sites opened up in March 1999.[11] MyFamily.com, had one million registered users within its first 140 days.[10] The company raised more than $90 million in venture capital from investors.[10] On November 17, 1999, the name of the company changed from Ancestry.com, Inc. to MyFamily.com, Inc. Its three Internet genealogy sites were then called Ancestry.com, MyFamily.com, and FamilyHistory.com.[12] Sales for 2002 were about $62 million, and those for 2003 were $99 million.[13] The company opened a call center in Provo, Utah, in March 2004.[14] On December 19, 2006, the company changed its name to "The Generations Network".[15] The company allowed free access to Ancestry.com at LDS Family History Centers. This service was removed on March 17, 2007. This was because of the lack of a mutual agreement. In 2010, Ancestry restored its access to its site at Family History Centers.

On July 6, 2009, the company changed its name back to Ancestry.com.[16] A year later, Ancestry sold its book publishing assets to Turner Publishing.[17] That same year, Ancestry magazine was no longer publishing after 25 years.[18] On November 5, 2009, Ancestry.com became a publicly traded company on NASDAQ (symbol: ACOM).[19][20] It's first public offering was at 7.4 million shares priced at $13.50 per share. The company had a partnership with NBC for a television series called Who Do You Think You Are?.[21]

In 2010, Ancestry.com expanded its location to San Francisco, California. The San Francisco office focuses on the technology aspects of the company. Their recent works include an iPhone and iPad app. In December 2011, Ancestry.com removed the Social Security Death Index for people who died within 10 years.[22] These records were removed because of identity theft concerns. In September 2012, Ancestry.com expanded its international operations with the opening of its European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. The Dublin office includes a new call center for international customers, as well as product, marketing and engineering teams.[23][24]

In October 2012, Ancestry.com agreed to be acquired by a private equity group consisting of Permira Advisers LLP, members of Ancestry.com's management team, including CEO Tim Sullivan and CFO Howard Hochhauser, and Spectrum Equity for $32 per share or around $1.6 billion.[25][26] At the same time, Ancestry.com purchased a photo digitization and sharing service called 1000Memories.[27] In September 2013, Ancestry.com announced its acquisition of Find a Grave.[28] A month later, the company announced it had purchased the family history records of South African genealogy website Ancestry24 which stopped operating in February 2013.[29][30]

Productions and services[change | change source]

Ancestry.com is a subscription-based genealogy research website. It has 5 billion records online.[31] Most of the records are from the United States. However, records are being added for other countries, such as Canada, the UK, and European countries. Some records are free for anyone to access. Most records on Ancestry.com are only available for paying subscribers. Family Tree Maker (FTM) is advertised as "the #1 selling family history software".[32] FTM allows the researcher to keep track of information collected during research and to create reports, charts, and books containing that information.

On June 22, 2006, Ancestry.com completed the indexing and scanning of all of the United States Federal Census records from 1790 through 1930.[33][34] The website was nominated for a 2007 CODiE Award in the "Best Online Consumer Information Service" category.[35] The website offers a genealogical DNA tests of autosomal DNA, paternal Y-chromosome DNA and maternal mitochondrial DNA.[36] In June 2014, Ancestry.com no longer sold the Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA testing.[37]

Website traffic[change | change source]

In the first quarter of 2012, Ancestry had 1.87 million users.[38] According to Quantcast, as of April 2012, Ancestry.com reached a rough estimate of 8.3 – 8.4 million people in the US.[39] In the second quarter of 2014, Ancestry had 2.11 million users, for a loss of 52,000 subscribers when compared to the first quarter of 2014.[40]

Other websites the company owns[change | change source]

This is a list of all websites Ancestry.com., Inc. owns.

References[change | change source]

  1. ↑ "MyFamily.com, Inc. Names Tim Sullivan President and Chief Executive Officer". PR Newswire. September 15, 2005. Retrieved April 21, 2008.
  2. ↑ Peter Wayner (April 22, 2004). "From Shared Resources, Your Personal History". The New York Times. Retrieved April 13, 2007.
  3. ↑ "Recent Business Highlights". Ancestry.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2014. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  4. ↑ "FamilyHistory.com". Archived from the original on December 24, 2006. Retrieved December 26, 2006.
  5. ↑ "Ancestry.com Europe S.à r.l." Archived from the original on February 28, 2011. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
  6. ↑ "About Western Standard Publishing". Archived from the original on June 16, 2008. Retrieved September 21, 2008.
  7. ↑ "Genealogy business booms as boomers seek out roots". Deseret News. April 5, 1997.
  8. ↑ "Infobases acquires LDS publishing house". Deseret News. July 1, 1997.
  9. ↑ "Happily joined". Deseret News. April 5, 1998.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Infobase Ventures Portfolio Companies". Infobase Ventures. Archived from the original on May 28, 2007. Retrieved April 21, 2008.
  11. ↑ "MyFamily.com begins offering free sites". March 11, 1999. Archived from the original on November 16, 2006. Retrieved December 26, 2006.
  12. ↑ "Ancestry.com, Inc. Changes Corporate Name to MyFamily.com, Inc". Ancestry.com. November 17, 1999.
  13. ↑ Paul Allen (May 20, 2006). "My Companies: A Chronological View of My Entrepreneurial Endeavors". paulallen.net. Archived from the original on April 18, 2008. Retrieved April 21, 2008.
  14. ↑ "MyFamily growing in Utah". Deseret News. April 13, 2004. Archived from the original on April 21, 2008. Retrieved April 21, 2008.
  15. ↑ "MyFamily.com, Inc. Changes Corporate Name to The Generations Network". December 19, 2006. Archived from the original on October 8, 2011. Retrieved December 26, 2006.
  16. ↑ "The Generations Network Becomes Ancestry.com". July 6, 2009. Archived from the original on October 8, 2011. Retrieved August 1, 2009.
  17. ↑ Jim Milliot, "Turner Publishing Buys Ancestry Publishing Assets," Publishers Weekly, March 23, 2010.
  18. ↑ "Ancestry Magazine Discontinues Publication" Archived 2011-10-10 at the Wayback Machine, Ancestry Magazine. Retrieved April 16, 2010
  19. ↑ "Ancestry.com: Investor FAQs". Archived from the original on November 10, 2009. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
  20. ↑ "BloggingStocks: Ancestry.com explores an IPO". Archived from the original on May 1, 2011. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
  21. ↑ "Ancestry.com: Recent Business Highlights". Archived from the original on February 27, 2011. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
  22. ↑ Sterman, Joce (December 14, 2011). "Website stops displaying Social Security numbers for recently dead". Baltimore: ABC2. Archived from the original on January 10, 2012. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
  23. ↑ Kennedy, John Fintan (July 11, 2012). "Ancestry.com to create 50 new jobs at international HQ in Dublin". Silicon Republic. Retrieved August 1, 2013. Ancestry.com's Dublin employees will include staff working within management and finance functions, as well as website developers and member service agents.
  24. ↑ Flanagan, Peter (October 23, 2012). "Genealogy giant sold for €1.2bn months after Dublin move". Irish Independent. Retrieved August 1, 2013. It set up in Ireland last year but in July confirmed it would open its European headquarters on Sir John Rogerson's Quay in Dublin, and started taking on around 35 staff from September.
  25. ↑ "Ancestry.com Acquired by Private Equity Group for $1.6 Billion". The Descrier. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
  26. ↑ "Permira Funds Complete Acquisition of Ancestry.com" (Press release). ancestry.com. December 28, 2012. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  27. ↑ "Ancestry.com Acquires Photo Digitization And Sharing Service 1000memories". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 3, 2012.
  28. ↑ "Ancestry.com Acquires Find A Grave". Ancestry.com. Archived from the original on October 7, 2013. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  29. ↑ "Ancestry24". Retrieved October 22, 2013.
  30. ↑ "Ancestry.com Purchases Family History Records from Media24". Ancestry.com. Retrieved October 22, 2013.
  31. ↑ "Genealogy Databases Posted or Updated Recently". Ancestry.com. Archived from the original on June 19, 2006. Retrieved June 20, 2006.
  32. ↑ "FamilyTreeMaker.com". Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  33. ↑ "Genealogical site digitizes millions of census records". CNN. June 22, 2006.
  34. ↑ "Ancestry.com Digitizes Entire US Federal Census Collection From 1790–1930".
  35. ↑ "Finalists — The 22nd Annual SIIA Codie Awards". Archived from the original on January 25, 2007. Retrieved January 26, 2007.
  36. ↑ "AncestryDNA". Retrieved October 26, 2012.
  37. ↑ "Ancestry.com Pulls the Plug on Several Sites". Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  38. ↑ Savitz, Eric. "Ancestry.com: For Sale?". Forbes. Retrieved June 13, 2012.
  39. ↑ "Ancestry". Retrieved June 13, 2012.
  40. ↑ MacEntee, Thomas. "The Truth Behind Ancestry.com's Recent Subscriber Losses". LinkedIn. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
  41. ↑ http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2013/09/30/ancestry-com-acquires-find-a-grave/ Archived 2016-05-01 at the Wayback Machine</a>
  42. ↑ Blake Scarbrough (October 21, 2010). "Ancestry.com and Footnote.com". Footnote.com blog. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
  43. ↑ "Acquisition of Genealogy.com". April 18, 2003. Archived from the original on April 14, 2006. Retrieved December 26, 2006.
  44. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions". Archived from the original on January 3, 2007. Retrieved December 26, 2006.
  45. ↑ "MyFamily.com". Archived from the original on February 9, 2010. Retrieved February 4, 2010.
  46. ↑ "Ancestry.com Launches New Web Site Newspapers.com". Ancestry.com Press Release. November 29, 2012. Archived from the original on February 5, 2013. Retrieved August 14, 2014.
  47. ↑ "Acquisition of RootsWeb". Ancestry.com. June 21, 2000. Retrieved December 26, 2006.

Other websites[change | change source]

Retrieved from "https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ancestry.com&oldid=9413565"