WebMD and health-and-beauty retailer Boots UK announced today that they are jointly developing a consumer health information portal in the UK. According to the press release WebMD (NSDQ: WBMD) will provide the content and technology, while Boots will use its brand and audience to help market the portal and build an audience. The portal’s offerings will, not surprisingly, look a lot like WebMD’s, with articles, guides, tools and applications, calculators and videos, but will be tailored to UK-specific topics, they said
Though financial specifics of the deal weren’t disclosed, the portal will be ad-driven; Boots will try to drive users from its terrestrial and online stores. The press release said that WebMD and Boots would share “development costs and benefits of this new site.” The portal is scheduled to be launched in the second half of 2009. WebMD is faring reasonably well in the downturn, with first-quarter 2009 revenue expected to grow 15 percent, according to guidance given on the company’s 2008 earnings call. Licensing its content to portals isn’t a new line of business for the company (134 clients license its content/technology for portals), but those portals are for private, internal use; today’s announcement involves a public, consumer service.
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