Irvine-based Interchange Corp. is going local.
The company, which links advertisers to searches on the Internet, said Tuesday it’s hired investment bank Merriman Curhan Ford & Co. as it considers a possible sale of its national search business.
A sale would leave struggling Interchange to focus on linking advertisers to searches done by people looking for products and services in their own areas.
Last year, Interchange made a series of acquisitions honing its services for local searches, including buying Pasadena-based Local.com Inc., a Web site that allows people to search for local businesses.
The company believes “that shareholder value will be created to the extent that we achieve our objectives in local search,” said Heath Clarke, Interchange’s chief executive.
Interchange, which went public in 2004, saw its shares slump most of last year. After surging on the coattails of Google Inc. in late 2004, Interchange’s shares are off by nearly 90% since its 2004 peak.
The company counted a recent market value of $35 million.
