IRVINE, Calif. -

Autobytel said late last week that it has purchased Cyber Ventures and Autotropolis, which are two co-owned companies out of Tampa., Fla., that produce and sell auto shoppers’ purchase requests by utilizing proprietary content and search-marketing capabilities.

Autobytel’s leadership expects the acquisition could provide as much as a 150-percent lift in internally generated purchase requests and more than a 40-percent uptick in total purchase requests.

Sharing a bit of the companies’ histories, Cyber Ventures and Autotropolis were established in 2003. The two firms have the same ownership as well as the same operating staff. Other administrative and operational resources are also common.

Combed revenues for the companies last year was roughly $10 million.

Meanwhile, Autobytel’s 2009 revenues hit $53 million. Through the first six months of this year, it posted $23.9 million in revenue.

Autobytel anticipates that the acquisitions will be added immediately to its earnings.

As far as the leadership of Cyber Ventures and Autotropolis, co-founders Ian Bentley and William Ferriolo are coming aboard Autobytel, as are “certain members of their staff,” officials explained.

“This transaction extends our core growth and margin-enhancement strategies and solidifies Autobytel’s position as the premier provider of automotive-related consumer purchase requests in our industry,” stated Jeffrey Coats, the president and chief executive officer of Autobytel.

“Given our already large and growing auto dealer and OEM distribution network, the addition of Cyber Ventures and Autotropolis gives Autobytel a significant competitive advantage by providing us with an additional major source of high-quality, ready-to-buy consumer purchase requests coming directly from our network of branded consumer websites,” he added. “We expect our higher-margin, internally generated purchase requests to increase by upwards of 150 percent, and our total purchase request volume to grow by more than 40 percent.”

Coats continued: “The acquisition also gives us additional meaningful content for today’s automotive consumer and further enhances our Internet footprint with more than 2 million additional page views per month. We also expect to benefit greatly from the superior search engine optimization techniques and a growing suite of digital automotive products developed by the talented Cyber Ventures and Autotropolis team.”

Offering his comments, Bentley noted: “Joining forces with Autobytel will give both organizations complementary strengths. We look forward to pursuing the growth opportunities that we believe are ahead with the economic recovery in the automotive industry.”

Meanwhile, Ferriolo stated: “We are pleased to be on the ground floor of Autobytel’s strategic expansion plans and excited to be associated with the pioneer firm in our industry.

“As a result, our dealer customers and consumers will benefit greatly from the many value-added services provided by Autobytel that help dealers sell more cars and assist consumers in their entire automotive shopping and ownership experience through best-in-class online automotive content,” he continued.