Doug Lebda, the founder and CEO of LendingTree, died Sunday in an ATV accident, the online loan marketplace company announced. He was 55.

"The LendingTree family is absolutely heartbroken," LendingTree said in a statement to CBS News.

Lebda founded LendingTree in 1996 in a move to simplify the process of shopping and applying for loans. Part of his vision was to create a platform that allowed customers to avoid applying for a bank loan in person and that would generate more competition among lenders for people's business, according to Lebda's company biography.

The business launched in 1998 and went public in 2000. LendingTree's site helps users find and compare mortgages, credit cards, insurance and other financial products.

LendingTree, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, was later a

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