LendingTree, Inc.
Type of businessPublic company
Traded as
Founded1996 (1996)
HeadquartersCharlotte, North Carolina, U.S.
OwnerDoug Lebda (18.9%)[1]
Founder(s)Doug Lebda
Key peopleDoug Lebda (CEO)
Scott Peyree (President)
Trent Ziegler (CFO)
RevenueUS$1.106 billion (2019)
US$765 million (2018)[2]
Employees1,289 (2020)
URLwww.lendingtree.com

LendingTree is an online lending marketplace, founded in 1996 and headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The business platform allows potential borrowers to connect with multiple loan operators to find optimal terms for loans, credit cards, deposit accounts, insurance, etc. LendingTree allows borrowers to shop and compare competitive rates and terms across an array of financial products. Other additional services include financing tools, comparative loan searches and borrowing information.[3]

History

Founding

After graduating from Bucknell University, Doug Lebda went to work for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Pittsburgh as an auditor and consultant. During the process of purchasing his first home via a mortgage, he found the process of comparing numerous resources time-consuming. Lebda sought a better way to improve this process in the marketplace. Lebda subsequently started CreditSource USA in late 1996; a year later the new company was rebranded as LendingTree. In 1998, LendingTree was launched online.[4][5]

IAC ownership

LendingTree went through an initial public offering (IPO) on February 15, 2000.[6] In May 2003, LendingTree was acquired by IAC/InterActiveCorp, former owner of Ticketmaster, Home Shopping Network and Match.com. In 2004, LendingTree acquired HomeLoanCenter.com and formed LendingTree Loans.[7] After five years, LendingTree spun off from IAC to join newly established Tree.com, Inc. Tree.com was the parent company of several brands and businesses in the financial services and real estate industries including LendingTree.com; GetSmart.com; DegreeTree.com; LendingTreeAutos.com; and DoneRight.com.[8]

In 2015, LendingTree disassembled the Tree.com umbrella to focus on its core brand, LendingTree, which incorporated business loans, personal loans, debt consolidation, free credit scores, and student loans along with its core mortgage products home loans, mortgage refinance, and home equity.[9]

Since 2019, LendingTree has served as the official name sponsor of the annual college football bowl played in Mobile, Alabama, the LendingTree Bowl.

Acquisitions

In 2009, LendingTree acquired the personal financial management website Thrive.[10] In August 2016, it acquired SimpleTuition, a company focused on student loans.[11] Subsequent acquisitions include CompareCards (2016),[12] DepositAccounts.com (2017),[13] MagnifyMoney (2017),[14] SnapCap (2017),[15] Student Loan Hero (2018),[16] QuoteWizard (2018),[17] and ValuePenguin (2018).[18]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Lending Tree, Inc". Retrieved October 18, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Lending Tree, Inc 2019 10K filing". Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  3. ↑ "LendingTree Reinvents How Borrowers Shop For Money with its New My LendingTree Experience - Yahoo Finance". finance.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 2014-11-16.
  4. ↑ Goldberg, Steve (2014-08-03). "LendingTree: An original dot-com darling grows up". CNBC. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
  5. ↑ "LendingTree Is Booming, and Its Stock Soaring, As More Borrowers Shop Online".
  6. ↑ "LendingTree, Inc". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  7. ↑ Sherter, Alaine (2010-01-07). "Mortgage Entrepreneur Anthony Hsieh Says He's No Predator and Plans to Prove It". CBS News. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
  8. ↑ "Our Roots - Timeline". LendingTree.com.
  9. ↑ "Tree.com, Inc. Changes Corporate Name to LendingTree, Inc". www.prnewswire.com.
  10. ↑ Wauters, R. (2009). "Tree.com Acquires Mint Competitor Thrive" TechCrunch
  11. ↑ Monfort, Francis (August 1, 2016). "LendingTree acquires certain assets of SimpleTuition". S&P Global. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  12. ↑ "LendingTree Acquires CompareCards". PR Newswire. November 16, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  13. ↑ Seale, Michael (June 16, 2017). "Birmingham company acquired by financial giant in $33M deal". Birmingham Business Journal. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  14. ↑ Huo, Jingnan (June 21, 2017). "LendingTree acquires comparison shopping site MagnifyMoney". American Banker. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  15. ↑ Moore, Thad (September 19, 2017). "Charleston startup SnapCap acquired by LendingTree in deal worth up to $21 million". The Post and Courier. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  16. ↑ "LendingTree, Inc. Announces Agreement to Acquire Student Loan Hero". Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  17. ↑ "LendingTree (TREE) Acquires QuoteWizard.com for $370.2M". finance.yahoo.com.
  18. ↑ Research, Zacks Investment. "LendingTree (TREE) to Acquire ValuePenguin.com for $105M". Zacks Investment Research. Retrieved 2018-12-27.
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