Online business resource AllBusiness.com has been acquired by Dun & Bradstreet for approximately $55 million to enhance its internet presence. The site will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of the veteran commercial info company with Kathy Yates remaining as CEO. Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE: DNB) expects the acquisition to generate about $10 million of incremental revenue in 2008, according to AP.

SEE ALSO: Industry Moves: Peter Horan Leaving AllBusiness.com To Head IAC's Media And Advertising Group

A $55 million price tag isn’t shabby but this one is attached to a site once sold for $225 million. It was founded in 1999 with $20 million in VC funds and was sold to GE subsidiary NBC Internet Inc, in 2000 for a pre-bubble $225 million. In 2002, it was sold to a private entity that thought it could be rescued, and went back to start-up phase. AllBusiness.com raised $12.4 million in third-round funding in early 2006; the round was led by Sutter Hill Ventures and included strategic investor Reed Elsevier (NYSE: RUK) Ventures.

VantagePoint Venture Partners took part in that round and contributed a $10 million second round in 2004 although the company only used $5 million. At the time, VantagePoint managing director David Carlick said they thought AllBusiness.com “is poised to become the Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) for small business.” That hasn’t quite happened despite bringing in first Peter Horan as CEO and MarketWatch veteran Yates as COO , then CEO when Horan left for IAC (NSDQ: IACI), although the site was able to boost traffic and move to a new level.

And the price doesn’t come close to the $345 million in cash plus earnout RH Donnelley paid for Business.com, the info, directory and search site, just a few months ago. The $7.5 million Skye Dayton and Jake Winebaum paid in 1999 was then the largest ever for a singe domain name. The company raised $10 million in funding in 2004 and kept building value.

—AllBusiness.com claims an “audience of more than 2 million business decision makers” and a library of “more than 2 million pieces of business information including articles, videos, blogs, forms and agreements.”