Physician search provider The Medicus Firm has been acquired by M3 USA, a Tokyo-based provider of healthcare websites and research. The Medicus Firm is based in Dallas with an office in Atlanta and provides search services for physicians and advanced practice providers. It is M3’s fourth acquisition in the US in the last two years.

Terms of the transaction were not announced, but M3 purchased 100% of the shares. The Medicus Firm will continue to operate as an independent, wholly owned subsidiary of M3 USA.

“The resources and support of M3 USA will enable us to continue to grow our current business and to expand into other, complimentary businesses,” said Jim Stone, president of The Medicus Firm.

The Medicus Firm was created in 2009 via the merger of Medicus Partners and The MD Firm.

The acquisition will still result in business as usual for customers.

M3 Group operates in the US, Asia and Europe with more than 2 million physician members via its physician websites including mdlinx.com, a website with medical news and information, including a “Smartest Doc Quiz and Review.”

The Medicus Firm is M3’s fourth US acquisition in the last two years. Other acquisitions, operating separately, include PracticeMatch, a provider of data geared toward in-house recruiters; the New England Physician Recruitment Center, a Boston-based provider of job placement services for physicians; and a business called Profiles.

M3 also operates the M3.com website in Japan and M3 Career Inc., which provides job search and placement services for physicians and pharmacists in Japan.

The company also has operations in in the UK with Doctors.net.uk Ltd. and M3 Global Research.

M3 is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange; it had net sales of ¥30.53 billion (US$255.5 million) in the six months ended Sept. 30, 2015. The 3 “m’s” in its name stand for medicine, media and metamorphosis. Its largest shareholder is Sony Corp. with a 40.1% holding, according to the company’s website.