WebMD Health Corp. agreed to be taken private by buyout firm KKR & Co. for about $2.8 billion, five months after hiring bankers to explore a possible sale.
Stockholders of the online health information company will receive $66.50 a share in cash, according to a statement Monday. The price is 20 percent more than Friday’s closing level and 29 percent higher than where the shares traded in mid-February, when New York-based WebMD hired JPMorgan Chase & Co. to review strategic alternatives.
The sale caps months of speculation about whether WebMD, which went public 12 years ago and is now used by 75 million consumers each month, would find a buyer. In 2012, when the stock was trading near all-time lows, a sale attempt had fallen apart.
