USwitch
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| Limited company | |
| Industry | Price comparison service |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Founder | George Mountbatten, 4th Marquess of Milford Haven |
| Headquarters | Notcutt House, 36 Southwark Bridge Road, London, SE1 9EU, United Kingdom Tel: / 0800 093 0607 |
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Key people
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Steve Weller, CEO |
| Parent | Zoopla |
| Website | www |
uSwitch.com is a UK-based price comparison service and switching website founded in 2000. The site allows consumers to compare prices for a range of energy, personal finance, insurance and communications services. uSwitchforBusiness.com is uSwitch's energy price comparison and brokerage service for businesses.
In 2007, The Times regarded uSwitch as one of the two most established price comparison websites and highlighted it as being among the best money-saving websites for students.
uSwitch.com was founded by Lord Milford Haven in September 2000 with an initial £4 million investment to take advantage of the UK’s deregulated gas and electricity markets. The company subsequently expanded into the telephony and communications markets in 2001. In the same year it also bought competitor buy.co.uk followed by local community information website UpMyStreet.com in 2003.
uSwitch.com was itself acquired by US media conglomerate, E.W. Scripps Company in March 2006 for £210 million ($366 million). The purchase added a second freestanding interactive media business to its portfolio alongside leading US product price comparison site, Shopzilla.
In February 2008, E.W. Scripps Company recorded a $411 million pre-tax charge related to the uSwitch acquisition, contributing to an overall $256 million loss for Scripps in the last quarter of 2007. The scale of the writedown reflects more realistic revenue expectations due to lower than expected levels of switching.
In December 2009, uSwitch was acquired by Forward Internet Group for $10.3 million in cash. Forward is a privately funded collection of internet-based businesses focused on consumer engagement and innovation. Forward3D is the group's 3D search agency (formerly known as TrafficBroker) and Forward Innovations is the consumer division which focuses on price comparison and switching, including brands such as InvisibleHand and Omio.
In June 2011, uSwitch acquired Top10.com. 2011 also saw uSwitch enter the Irish market with uSwitch.ie, which operates in the same way as the UK but currently offers switching services for broadband, TV, phone and energy services and not insurance or financial services.
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Wikipedia