The company was founded in 1998 as CarsDirect.com, launched from the business incubator Idealab. The company invented a consumer-advocacy approach to selling cars "haggle-free" online, an approach it continues to employ.[10] In 2000, Roger Penske invested in the company and joined the Board of Directors. In 2002, Time Magazine voted the site one of the 50 best in the world.[11]

The company changed its name to Internet Brands in 2005.[12] The company's IPO was in November 2007 on the NASDAQ exchange.[13] INET was added to the NASDAQ Internet Index on March 22, 2010.[14]

Internet Brands agreed to be acquired for $640 million by the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman in September 2010 [15][16] and was thus delisted from NASDAQ.[17]

In September 2012, Internet Brands became involved in a legal battle with the Wikimedia Foundation (the operators of Wikipedia) over the future of Wikitravel's community.[18][19][20]

Internet Brands was acquired in June 2014 by KKR from Hellman & Friedman for 1.1 billion dollars.[21] KKR is making its investment in partnership with Internet Brands chief executive officer Bob Brisco and the Internet Brands management team, who will hold a minority stake in the company and continue to run the business