WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ: WBMD), the leading source of health information, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to repurchase all of the shares of WebMD common stock beneficially owned by Carl C. Icahn and certain of his affiliates, at a purchase price of $32.08 per share, the NASDAQ Official Closing Price of WebMD's common stock on October 18, 2013. The total purchase price for the approximately 5.5 million shares will be $177.3 million and will be funded from WebMD's cash and cash equivalents on hand. This transaction is expected to be completed today.
"Our decision to repurchase these shares reflects our belief that, as the healthcare landscape continues to evolve, the combination of WebMD's trusted brand, industry-leading scale, high-quality consumer and professional audiences and customer relationships provides us with a strong foundation to deliver long-term growth," said David Schlanger, Chief Executive Officer, WebMD.
Inclusive of this transaction, since June 30, 2013, WebMD has repurchased approximately 10.8 million shares of its common stock and $148 million principal amount of its 2.25% Convertible Notes due 2016.
After this transaction, WebMD will have approximately 40.4 million shares of its common stock outstanding (including approximately 0.9 million unvested shares of restricted stock) and expects to have approximately $550 million in cash and cash equivalents and $652 million in aggregate principal amount of convertible notes outstanding.
The repurchase announced today was made outside of WebMD's existing share repurchase program and approximately $54 million remains available for repurchases under that program.