Teladoc acquires Advance Medical for $352 million

Telehealth giant Teladoc has acquired Advance Medical for $352 million, expanding its international presence and doubling its potential market, the company announced Monday.

Advance Medical has partnerships with more than 300 multinational employers and insurers in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the U.S. Since Advance Medical's focus lies outside the U.S., the acquisition will help Teladoc serve U.S. multinational employers, a third of whose employees work outside of the U.S.

Besides expanding which countries Teladoc is in, the acquisition also brings Teladoc new digital tools, including clinical risk assessment.

"The acquisition is consistent with the other M&A activity we've seen this year in telemedicine," said Nathaniel Lacktman, a partner and healthcare lawyer with Foley & Lardner, referring to American Well's acquisition of Avizia and InTouch's acquisition of Reach Health.

"The trend we're seeing and will continue to see is consolidation in the industry," he said. "The bigger are going to continue to get big, and they're going to continue to try to eliminate their competition by purchasing them and offering more multifaceted solutions."

Teladoc's last acquisition came in 2017 when it purchased Best Doctors and added more than 50,000 specialists to its rosters. It also acquired Best Doctors' analytics, decision support and cognitive computing tools.

Teladoc's revenue in the first quarter of 2018 was $89.6 million, up 109% over the first quarter of 2017. Though the company also had a net loss of $23.9 million in the first quarter of 2018, CEO Jason Gorevic remained optimistic about the company's prospects.

Teladoc raked in $233.3 million in revenue over the course of 2017. Advance Medical posted $63 million in revenue, and the company expects to have at least $74 million in revenue in 2018.

Teladoc paid $292 million in cash and $60 million in Teladoc common stock for Advance Medical. The deal closed May 31.