Angie's List
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| Type of business | Public |
|---|---|
| Traded as | NASDAQ: ANGI |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Founder(s) | William S. Oesterle, Angie Hicks |
| Key people | Thomas R. Evans, Chairman Scott Durchslag, CEO Angie Hicks, CMO |
| Industry | Internet |
| Services | Online marketplace, Review site |
| Revenue |
 US$344.125 million (2015) |
| Operating income |
US$13.258 million (2015) |
| Net income |
US$ 10.243 million (2015) |
| Website | www.angieslist.com |
Angie's List is a US-based website containing crowd-sourced reviews of local businesses. For the quarter ending on June 30, 2016, Angie's List reported total revenue of US$83,000,000 and a net income of US$4,797,000.
In July 2016, the company changed its memberships so that the basic tier, which includes access to more than 10 million reviews, is free.
William S. Oesterle and Angie Hicks founded Angie's List in 1995. The idea resulted from Hicks's search for a reliable construction contractor in suburban Columbus, Ohio, on behalf of Oesterle, a venture capitalist who was Hicks's boss. Hicks moved to Columbus to join Oesterle in creating Columbus Neighbors, a call-in service and publication with reviews of local home and lawn care services. The name and concept were based on Unified Neighbors in Indianapolis, Indiana. Hicks went door-to-door, signing up consumers as members and collecting ratings of local contractors.
After Hicks recruited over 1,000 members in Columbus within one year, she turned to Oesterle to raise money from investors to develop the business. In 1996, the company bought Unified Neighbors from its creator and moved the company's headquarters to Indianapolis.
By 1999, the database of local services and reviews was moved to the Internet. In the following years, the customer base and business relationships grew throughout the United States, while expanding coverage to include additional services, such as health care and auto care.
In 2013, Angie's List had over 70,000 subscribers. In August 2015, it reported 3.2 million paid members.
Angie's List members grade companies using a report-card-style scale, which ranges from A to F; these ratings are based on the following criteria: price, quality, responsiveness, punctuality and professionalism. Each company has its own page, which is composed of a description of its business along with the customer reviews. The aggregate grade is drawn from the combined reviews and grades given to the businesses from the consumers.
Answering a complaint from a user, David Segal found that when subscribers post a negative review of a company to Angie's List, a staff member discusses it with them in an attempt to rectify the situation.
According to The Washington Post, in March 2007 SCS Contracting Group sued Angie's List and two members for libel because of negative reviews of the company. One of the sued members remarked, "if [contractors are] able to sue, then the value of Angie's List depreciates.... People aren't going to be willing to submit reviews if they could be threatened with a lawsuit." On October 7, 2008, the plaintiffs dismissed the complaint against the two members. Summary judgment was later granted in favor of all defendants.
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Wikipedia