Citysearch

{{Short description|Online city guide}}

{{Infobox website

| name = Citysearch

| logo = Citysearch logo.png

| company_type = Subsidiary

| type = Local search

| foundation = 1995 in La Crescenta, California

| founder =

| location = West Hollywood, California

| area_served = United States

| industry = Advertising

| parent = CityGrid Media ({{Proper name|eLocal}})

| owner =

| homepage = {{URL|citysearch.com}}

}}

Citysearch is an online city guide that provides information about businesses in the categories of dining, entertainment, retail, travel, and professional services in cities throughout the United States. Visitors to each of Citysearch's local city guides will find contact information, maps, driving directions, editorial, and user reviews for the businesses listed. Citysearch is headquartered in West Hollywood, California and is an owned and operated web site of CityGrid Media, which is an operating business of {{Proper name|eLocal}}.{{cn|date=July 2021}} The original office was in Pasadena, California.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}

Citysearch was founded in September 1995 by Jeffrey Brewer, Caskey Dickson, Brad Haaugard, Taylor Wescoatt, and Tamar Halpern. Charles R. Conn was then recruited to lead the new company. The idea, initiative, and seed capital came initially from Bill Gross.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/business/la-xpm-2012-jul-08-la-fi-himi-gross-20120708-story.html|title=Bill Gross' many business ideas|date=2012-07-08|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-23}}

In August 1998, Citysearch merged with Ticketmaster Online.{{cite news|title=IPO Daily Report: CitySearch to merge with Ticketmaster Online 8-13-98|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ipo-daily-report-citysearch-to-merge-with-ticketmaster-online-8-13-98|website=MarketWatch|accessdate=20 September 2016}} In July 1999, Citysearch acquired the competing Sidewalk.com website from Microsoft,{{cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CGN/is_1999_July_20/ai_55206108|title=Microsoft Sells Off Sidewalk Sites to Rival CitySearch|publisher=BNET|date=1999-07-20|accessdate=2008-07-03}} and merged the two sites together. In December 1999, Ticketmaster-CitySearch received a $40 million investment from USA Networks, Inc., then controlled by Barry Diller.{{cite web|title=Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch Receives $40 Million Investment From USA Networks, Inc.|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ticketmaster-online-citysearch-receives-40-million-investment-from-usa-networks-inc-77379872.html|website=PRNewswire|accessdate=20 September 2016}} In 2007, another competitor, Insider Pages was acquired.{{cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2007/03/01/troubled-insider-pages-acquired-by-citysearch|title=Troubled Insider Pages Acquired By CitySearch|publisher=TechCrunch|date=2007-03-01|accessdate=2008-07-03}}

In June 2010, Citysearch LLC rebranded as CityGrid Media. The company also operates similar local consumer properties, such as Insider Pages.{{cite web|url= https://techcrunch.com/2010/06/02/citysearch-recasts-itself-as-citygrid-media/|title=Citysearch Recasts Itself As CityGrid Media|publisher=TechCrunch|date=2010-06-02|accessdate=2010-06-02}}

In 2019, {{Proper name|eLocal}} acquired CityGrid Media from IAC.{{cite web | url=https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/330130/elocal-acquires-felix-and-citygrid-from-iac-to-bui.html | title=ELocal Acquires Felix and CityGrid from IAC to Build on Performance }}

While many local search sites mushroomed in the 21st century, Citysearch faced intense competition from the fast-growing Yelp, Inc. In the late 2000s, Yelp grew at 80% while Citysearch growth remained flat.{{cite web|last=Schonfeld|first=Erick|title=Yelp Is Growing 80 Percent A Year, While Citysearch Remains Flat|url=https://techcrunch.com/2009/09/02/yelp-is-growing-80-percent-a-year-while-citysearch-remains-flat/|publisher=TechCrunch|accessdate=2 May 2014|date=Sep 2, 2009}} Local search engines from Bing, Google and Yahoo also became competitors to Citysearch for finding local businesses on the internet.