The New York Times Co. has agreed to acquire online consumer-information provider About Inc. for $410 million in cash, an indication that the media company is looking to the Internet as a channel for future growth.

The acquisition of the publisher of About.com from Primedia Inc. is expected to be completed by early in the second quarter, pending customary regulatory approvals, said the Times Co., which publishes The New York Times and The Boston Globe newspapers.

About.com, which offers expert advice on topics ranging from personal finance and home repair to consumer electronics and geography, reaches an audience of 22 million unique visitors each month. The Times Co.'s websites, on the other hand, are visited by 13 million users a month.

The media company plans to operate About.com as its own distinct business division and market Times products through the website.

Based on 2004 figures, the Times paid a premium for About.com. According to Primedia, the purchase price reflects a multiple of over 10 times About Inc.'s revenues and a multiple of more than 30 times its earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation (EBITDA).

But based on Times Co. projections for 2005, the transaction price reflects a multiple of 23 times estimated EBITDA. The company expects the acquisition to be accretive to earnings in 2007. For tax purposes, the Times plans to treat the acquisition similar to an asset purchase, leading to tax deductions worth over $80 million.

About.com adds cost-per-click advertising to the Times's online advertising base, which currently offers impression-based display advertising. Cost-per-click through sponsored links is the fastest-growing form of online advertising today, accounting for much of the success of search giant Google Inc.

In addition, About.com's user base combined with the Times Co.'s 13 million users will make the media company the 12 largest entity on the Internet, the Times said.

Finally, the acquisition provides "an important platform for future growth on the Internet by adding an alternate model of content creation and aggregation," the media company said in a statement released Thursday.

"We are very excited about this acquisition, which furthers our strategy of delivering news and information to local and national audiences with multiple media products," Janet Robinson, president and chief executive of the Times Co., said.

The New York-based media company owns 19 newspapers, eight network-affiliated television stations, two New York City radio stations and more than 40 web sites, including NYTimes.com and Boston.com. The company had revenues of $3.3 billion last year.