United Online Inc., which has been to home to 1990s-vintage Internet brands such as NetZero and Classmates.com over the years, agreed to be sold for $170 million to B. Riley Financial Inc., more than five months after rejecting a bid.

When NetZero and Juno Online Services Inc. merged in late 2001 to form United Online, the combined company had 6.7 million active users. It was the second-largest U.S. Internet-access provider after AOL, which had about 30 million subscribers as of June 2001.

B. Riley Financial owns investment bank B. Riley & Co. and Great American Group LLC, which provides advisory, valuation and asset-disposition services. The company said the deal fits with its long-term strategy of growth through opportunistic acquisitions.

"We understand that United Online is in a mature market," B. Riley Financial said Wednesday. The deal offers "a compelling risk-adjusted financial return that capitalizes on United Online's predictable cash flow," the company said.

United Online stockholders will receive $11 a share in the deal with B. Riley Financial. United Online's shares rose seven cents to $10.82 in after-hours trading on the Nasdaq exchange.

B. Riley Financial disclosed a small United Online stake in November and offered to buy the whole company for $12.50 a share. United Online rejected the offer and said it would explore strategic alternatives.

United Online's revenue last year was $151.1 million. Its NetZero and Juno services range from dial-up Internet access to offerings like NetZero Hotspot.

Classmates.com, the school-focused social media site that made its debut in 1995, was sold to United Online in 2004. Classmates filed for an initial public offering in 2007, but the filing was withdrawn later that year. United Online sold Classmates to Intelius Holdings Inc. for $30 million last year.

In a 2008 diversification move, United Online purchased flower-delivery company FTD Group Inc. for about $800 million. FTD was spun off in late 2013.

Last month, United Online sold shopping rewards site MyPoints.com to Prodege LLC.

Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 05, 2016 00:05 ET (04:05 GMT)

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