Quick Answer: WebMD is an American corporation which publishes online news and information about human health and well-being. The WebMD website also includes information about drugs and is an important healthcare information website and the most popular consumer-oriented health site. WebMD was started in 1998 by internet entrepreneur Jeff Arnold. In early 1999, it was part of a three-way merger with Sapient Health Network and Direct Medical Knowledge. SHN began in Portland, Oregon, in 1996 by Jim Kean, Bill Kelly, and Kris Nybakken, who worked together at a CD-ROM publishing firm, Creative Multimedia. Later, in 1999, WebMD merged with Healtheon, founded by Netscape Communications founder James H. Clark.