GNC, WebMD Team Up Online

PITTSBURGH & NEW YORK—General Nutrition Corp. (GNC) and WebMD (NASDAQ: WBMD) announced a multi-year marketing partnership, under which a new “Live Well Topic Center” will be hosted on GNC.com and on WebMD, giving users access to WebMD content and direct links to the specialty retailer. Consumer education and product information will be distributed across GNC’s 4,900 U.S. retail locations and on the WebMD network of more than 50 million unique monthly users.

“Given the strong leadership and commitment of our two companies to promote personal health and wellness, there is tremendous synergy in leveraging the strengths of two brand leaders to provide consumers with the personalized information that can help them live healthier lives,” said Wayne Gattinella, CEO and president, WebMD.

Joseph Fortunato, CEO of GNC, added: “This innovative partnership complements GNC’s long-standing commitment to provide consumers with the highest quality products and the best available information on nutritional supplements. ... This affiliation between our two companies provides health-conscious consumers with the perfect combination of resources.”

GNC will be featured in targeted areas on WebMD where consumers go most often for information on personal health, diet and nutrition information, including search, home page and other highly visited healthy lifestyle areas. In addition, an interactive, personal health assessment will be available to help consumers easily establish health goals and identify beneficial dietary supplements. GNC information and interactive tools will be featured across the WebMD network and GNC.com site. The partnership also allows GNC to license WebMD’s interactive tools as well as its valuable content for use in GNC’s domestic retail network of 4,900 locations.