30.6.05

Kijiji (eBay) / Opusforum

eBay's international classifieds group, today announced that it has acquired Opusforum, a local classifieds Web site based in Germany. The acquisition allows Kijiji to expand its position in Germany and enables opusforum to further cultivate its business with the resources and expertise of Kijiji and eBay.

Opusforum, founded in 2002 by Klaus Gapp, is a leading city-based classifieds Web site in Germany. It offers service in 55 cities, the majority of which are in Germany, and had more than 1 million unique visitors in May 2005, according to comScore Media Metrix. With a focus on helping local communities connect online, opusforum is a popular destination for jobs, housing, and services.

"Opusforum is an impressive business with an extensive reach in Germany," said Alex Kazim, senior vice president of new ventures at eBay, responsible for Kijiji. "Together, we are well positioned to grow classifieds in Germany and create an even more efficient place for local consumers to come together online."

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

(c) BUSINESS WIRE

28.6.05

NewMarket Technology / Corsa Networks Technologies

NewMarket Technology Inc. today announced the acquisition of Corsa Networks Technologies by Xiptel Communications, the company's VoIP subsidiary. Corsa Network Technologies is a five-year-old IP systems integration firm specializing in the construction of secure communication networks. Corsa reported $7.6 million in profitable annual revenue for 2004 and has a conservative forecast of $9 million for 2005. Over the last two years Xiptel has constructed a full service VoIP offering designed for business customers. The service has gone through trials and has been fine tuned with live customers. Recently, Xiptel signed their first major VoIP contract worth over $6 million over three years. Moving a business from a legacy phone system to a VoIP system requires a significant hardware and software integration effort. The Corsa acquisition adds the IP integration capability to Xiptel's existing VoIP service platform. The current combined annualized revenue for the two companies is approximately $10 million.

"Xiptel's managed VoIP business services and unique FreeRange sales program are gaining traction in the small and medium business market, the fastest growing VoIP market segment. The acquisition of Corsa is exciting and a major step for Xiptel," stated Peter Geddis, CEO of Xiptel. "Corsa's compound average annual growth rate has exceeded 35% over the past 4 years. The combination of Xiptel and Corsa gives us a giant leap forward. Both companies serve rapidly expanding, multi-billion dollar markets with proven, leading edge technologies," Geddis continued. "Together, Xiptel and Corsa offer small and large customers advanced business communication features and proven network security technologies based on the highest standards of quality, security, and reliability. This acquisition expands Corsa's sales reach and growth prospects almost overnight, and adds an important group of products and services to Xiptel's service offerings. We give customers more of what they want and need, and save them money at the same time."

Aubrey Brown, CEO of Corsa Network Technologies, said, "As a result of our deal with Xiptel, we're excited to become a part of the rapidly-growing NewMarket family. Xiptel and Corsa are both in high growth markets. I think the combination of our resources and the strategic fit we have designed will be the basis for exciting, compounded annual growth for the combined company."

The acquisition of Corsa Network Technologies will build on NewMarket's Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) strategy by combining Xiptel Communications with Corsa in preparation for an eventual spin-off and offering NewMarket shareholders a second stock dividend. The first stock dividend will be shares of Defense Technology Systems to NewMarket shareholders of record on July 1, 2005 with a stock dividend declaration date to be determined in the near future.

(c) BUSINESS WIRE

27.6.05

ONIT Communications / Intur.net

ONIT Communications Inc., a provider of enhanced Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to business customers worldwide, today announced it has acquired the customers and network assets of Intur.net, Inc., an Internet service provider (ISP) targeting corporate clients throughout Texas. Intur.net, a wholly owned subsidiary of Superwire, Inc., provides a variety of broadband Internet solutions to customers in virtually every business segment. ONIT's acquisition strategy, coupled with strong organic growth, is enhancing its profile within target industries, making it one of the industry's fastest-growing VoIP providers.

ONIT provides business customers a managed IP virtual private network that delivers a comprehensive communications solution, including integrated e-mail and voicemail, online call management, free domestic long-distance, competitive international rates and simplified billing. ONIT bundles broadband telephony with high-speed Internet connectivity for a flat rate that typically represents a 50 to 75 percent savings over traditional communications service.

(c) BUSINESS WIRE

Overstock.com / Ski West

Discount online retailer Overstock.com Inc. on Friday said it will acquire privately held Ski West Inc. in a $25 million deal that will expand its business into Internet travel services.

In addition to the acquisition price, Overstock said it will provide compensation based on future performance. Park City, Utah-based Ski West was founded in 2001, and provides hard-to-find lodging and vacation deals mainly in popular ski areas in the United States and Canada.

Overstock said it expects to close the acquisition by July 1. For the time being, Ski West will operate as a subsidiary of Overstock. Employees of Ski West are expected to be retained.

The acquisition comes just weeks after online auction company eBay Inc. announced it will acquire Shopping.com Inc. in a $620 million deal. Revenue for eBay was said to be slowing due to increased competition from retail-oriented search engines such as Overstock, as well as new pressure from Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.

Overstock.com shares fell 37 cents to close at $38.64 on the Nasdaq.

© AP

Network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc. says it's buying privately held NetSift Inc. of San Diego for approximately $30 million in cash and options.

Cisco says the NetSift acquisition will help it accelerate integration of additional packet processing capabilities into future core Cisco platforms, such as modular switching.

The acquisition is subject to various standard closing conditions, including applicable regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2005 ending July 30.

Upon close of the transaction, NetSift will become part of Cisco's Internet Systems Business Unit led by vice president and general manager Tom Edsall. NetSift was founded in June 2004 and has 15 employees.

(c) bizjournals.com

24.6.05

Auchan / GrosBill

L'un des poids lourds de la grande distribution accélère son développement sur Internet. Auchan a pris une participation majoritaire dans GrosBill, le vendeur d'articles informatiques. L'enseigne française, détentrice du supermarché en ligne Auchan direct, comble son retard sur Carrefour, qui dispose déjà d'un site consacré aux produits multimédias. Quant à Casino, il est toujours propriétaire du magasin en ligne CDiscount.

« L'idée est de prendre pied sur le marché grand public de l'électronique. Internet est pour Auchan un axe de développement parmi d'autres. Nous entendons faire de Grosbill le numéro un du marché français de l'électronique », explique-t-on en interne.

D'ici à 2007, le groupe espère multiplier par trois le chiffre d'affaires de sa nouvelle filiale. En 2004, le site marchand avait réalisé 60 millions d'euros de chiffre d'affaires, en progression de 50 % par rapport à l"année précédente.

GrosBill a préféré un rachat industriel à une entrée en Bourse. Il y a quelques mois, le site d'électronique s'était déclaré candidat à une cotation sur Alternext où il espérait lever entre 3 et 5 millions d'euros. L'adossement à Auchan s'est fait au prix de la perte de la majorité du capital pour les cinq fondateurs qui restent cependant actionnaires du site marchand.

Auchan se veut discret tant sur le montant de la transaction que sur les sommes futures allouées au développement de la marque. La transaction valoriserait Grosbill à une somme légèrement inférieure à 22 millions d'euros croit savoir le journal Les Echos dans son édition du vendredi 24 juin.

GrosBill continuera d'exister en tant que site indépendant. Auchan lui apporte son expertise dans le domaine des achats. Un savoir-faire non négligeable sur un secteur où les marges sont étroites. L'adossement à l'enseigne de grande distribution devrait lui permettre de négocier des prix encore plus bas auprès de ses fournisseurs. Un atout de taille pour prendre des parts de marché à LDLC ou à Pixmania, ses principaux concurrents.

Par Hélène Puel, 01net
(c) 01net

23.6.05

MobilePro / Evergreen Open Broadband

MobilePro Corp., a wireless technology and broadband telecommunications company, announced today that it has acquired Evergreen Open Broadband, a wholesale wireless Internet service provider (WISP) based in Boston, Mass., for stock and the assumption of certain liabilities, to cultivate and manage relationships with regional and national ISPs targeting retail wireless customers.

Evergreen's wholesale business model provides an open, competitively priced wireless platform for local, regional and national ISPs to market their services. Under this model, the retail customer receives service and a bill from their preferred ISP while Evergreen bills the ISP for the value of wholesale services provided. Evergreen will continue to sign up new ISPs as part of Evergreen Open Broadband, a division of MobilePro. Principals of Evergreen are CEO Martin Levetin (formerly a founder and COO of CopperCom and senior vice president at RAM Mobile Data), Dick Edmiston (formerly senior vice president of R&D at EarthLink), Robert Weber and Jay Barnell.

Evergreen has actively participated in NeoReach's wireless bid preparations and bids for Tempe, Ariz., Orlando, Fla., and approximately 20 other city-wide deployments that are either pending or under consideration by other cities and will continue to do so as a part of NeoReach.

(c) PRNewswire-FirstCall

Ameritrade / TD Waterhouse

Rejecting a takeover offer from E-Trade Financial Corp., Ameritrade Holding Corp. says it will instead acquire rival online brokerage TD Waterhouse from Toronto-Dominion Bank.

Online brokerages -- which at the height of the stock market boom saw valuations soar above brick-and-mortar firms such as Merrill Lynch & Co. and Morgan Stanley -- have recently been hurt by price cuts, lower commissions and a drop-off in equity investing.

The companies valued the all-stock deal at about $2.9 billion.

Ameritrade Chief Executive Joe Moglia will become CEO of the new TD Ameritrade, which the Omaha, Neb.-based company said would become the largest online broker at 239,000 average daily client trades. The combined company would have annual revenue of more than $1.8 billion and about 5.9 million total accounts.

"Where we are strong, we are now going to be stronger," Moglia said in a conference call Wednesday shortly after the announcement.

Ameritrade will pay its shareholders a special dividend of $6 per share, or about $2.4 billion. TD Bank Financial will receive about 32 percent ownership in the new TD Ameritrade and the new company will be governed by a dozen board members from both original institutions, with Moglia at the helm and TD Waterhouse's CEO Ed Clark as vice chairman.

As part of the deal, which is expected to close in about six months, TD Bank Financial Group will acquire Ameritrade's Canadian brokerage operations for $60 million.

Late last month, Ameritrade and Toronto-Dominion Bank confirmed they were discussing a possible merger. That came even as word persisted that E-Trade wanted to buy Ameritrade in a deal reported to be worth at least $6 billion.

Ameritrade answered those unsolicited bids with confirmation that the company was not for sale. But founder and chairman Joe Rickets and Moglia both hinted that the company would continue to examine consolidation options. Moglia again reiterated the possibility Wednesday, saying the new merger doesn't mean others aren't possible.

"Don't assume, however, that consolidation for the industry is over, and don't assume that it's over for Ameritrade," Moglia said.

After the deal closes, TD Bank Financial Group will offer to buy an additional 7.9 percent of outstanding shares at $16 per share. The agreement allows TD Bank Financial Group to have a maximum ownership of 39.9 percent for the first three years and a maximum 45 percent up to 10 years.

"We want to move right away to 39.9 percent," Clark said.

Ricketts agreed to limit his family's ownership to 29 percent of the combined company for 10 years.

Consolidation has been one of the keys to Ameritrade's success, as it has acquired or merged with seven companies within the last four years, Moglia said. Its most notable merger was in 2002 with rival Datek Online Holding Corp., a move which boosted its accounts by 800,000 and generated more than $11 billion in client assets.

With trade volume decreasing and online brokerages dropping prices to compete for business, such consolidations make sense, said Bill Doyle, an analyst with Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass.

"Ameritrade has created a highly efficient operation both on the back and the front end of the business and that's the kind of scale of efficiency that is needed now at a time when the business is tough," Doyle said.

With the merger, Ameritrade will be able to tap into one of the fastest growing sectors in the investment market -- personal advisers, Doyle said. Waterhouse's 140 nationwide branches will appeal to traders wanting personal attention, especially baby boomers who may not have enough money to attract a full-fledged broker, he said. Moglia also said the branches will add another dimension to the business, although he said some branch closings are being considered.

"The whole advisory dimension is something that Ameritrade hasn't had and they'd be smart to take advantage of that dimension that TD Waterhouse would bring," Doyle said.

New York-based TD Waterhouse is considered to be one of the world's largest online brokerages. It serves more than three million customers in the United States, Canada and Britain.

Ameritrade, based in Omaha, Neb., had about 3.7 million accounts as of last month. It averaged 133,000 client trades per day in May, down 5 percent from 140,000 trades in April and 8 percent from May 2004's volume of 144,000 trades a day.

Ameritrade shares rose $3.05, or 20.6 percent, to close at $17.87 Wednesday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Toronto Dominion's U.S.-traded shares rose 54 cents to $44.15 on the New York Stock Exchange. Both stocks set new 52-week highs on Wednesday.

(c) (AP)

20.6.05

Digiweb / Tiscali's Satellite Broadband Business

Digiweb Ltd. today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Tiscali's satellite broadband business in Italy for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition will be seamless to all of Tiscali's Satellite Customers and Digiweb will takeover all aspects of support and the ongoing provision of services to new customers with immediate effect.

Using industry leading satellite technologies and a range of satellite uplink operators, the two-way satellite broadband technology enables Digiweb to provide high speed broadband access throughout all of Europe, including many areas that the national operators do not service, without any reliance on the fixed line telephony infrastructure. In addition to Italy, Digiweb is already servicing business customers throughout Germany, France, United Kingdom and Austria.

Digiweb is currently evaluating further similar acquisitions in Europe and indeed Ireland in the Broadband sector, including wireless/satellite operators and software firms who provide services that could be a good strategic fit to Digiweb's aggressive growth plans.

Growth in Digiweb's European business have been phenomenal and Digiweb believe that there is a fantastic opportunity to further grow this business division through organic growth and further acquisitions.

(PRNewswire)

16.6.05

Cisco Systems / FineGround Networks

Cisco Systems today announced it has completed the acquisition of FineGround Networks, Inc. of Campbell, Calif.

On May 26, 2005, Cisco announced a definitive agreement to acquire FineGround, a leading provider of network appliances that accelerate, secure, and monitor application delivery while minimizing bandwidth usage and maximizing infrastructure capacity in the data center. By integrating FineGround's technology with Cisco's products, Cisco will be able to provide customers with advanced application-acceleration across networks for secure and optimized delivery of web-based applications.

(BUSINESS WIRE)

15.6.05

Yahoo! / DialPad Communications

Yahoo Inc. said Tuesday it had acquired DialPad Communications Inc., a 6-year-old company whose software lets people to place calls over the Internet for a fraction of the cost of regular telephone service.

The companies would not release financial details of the deal, which closed Monday.

The Internet's leading portal will use DialPad to expand its product array in the burgeoning niche of Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, said company spokeswoman Joanna Stevens.

The technology converts conversations into data packets that traverse the Internet over broadband connections. Some in the industry think VoIP will eventually nudge the 130-year-old circuit-switched phone network into obsolescence.

Milpitas-based DialPad, which has about 40 employees, competes with a growing number of startups that reroute calls from computers to servers to telephones.

Current mainstream VoIP services let callers use standard phone handsets or even cell phones to make or receive calls, a big improvement on the computer-to-computer of early Internet telephony.

Depending on the subscription plan, Dialpad charges as little as 1.7 cents per minute for calls, including international calls to more than 200 countries. DialPad subscribers can also buy a prepaid VoIP calling card. The company has been offering calling plans for about two years and has more than 14 million users.

New products from Yahoo that integrate DialPad technology could debut within a few months, Stevens said.

It's unclear what Yahoo might charge for VoIP service involving calls to traditional phones.

"We still need to integrate the technology and roll out a product, and we haven't disclosed those details," Stevens said.

The acquisition is Yahoo's second VoIP announcement in less than a month. In May, Yahoo introduced a test version of its instant messaging software with an Internet telephony component that lets users make free computer-to-computer calls.

(AP)

13.6.05

Akamai / Speedera Networks

Akamai Technologies, Inc. today announced it has completed its acquisition of Speedera Networks, Inc., a privately held company based in Santa Clara, California. Akamai announced a definitive agreement on March 16, 2005 to acquire Speedera in a stock-for-stock transaction.

Akamai and Speedera provide businesses with a cost-effective, distributed platform for accessing Web computing and capacity on demand worldwide without having to make significant upfront investments in infrastructure. The acquisition will provide customers with a broader suite of services available on the world's largest, high-performance distributed computing platform for the delivery and acceleration of Web content and applications.

Under the terms of the agreement, Akamai has acquired all of the outstanding common stock, preferred stock, and vested and unvested stock options of Speedera and its India-based, wholly-owned subsidiary by issuing approximately 12 million shares of Akamai common stock. The transaction is designed to be effected as a tax-free reorganization for Speedera stockholders and will be accounted for by Akamai under the purchase method of accounting.

(BUSINESS WIRE)

ValueClick / Web Marketing Holdings

ValueClick, Inc. today announced that it has agreed to acquire privately-held Web Marketing Holdings, Inc. (dba Web Clients), a performance-based marketing services company that generates leads for advertisers through its own online content, affiliate network and opt-in email database, for approximately $141 million. ValueClick also announced today that it has agreed to acquire privately-held E-Babylon, Inc., a leading online retailer of ink and toner products through its 123Inkjets.com and 411Inkjets.com websites.

Web Clients will give ValueClick immediate scale in promotional and industry-focused online content and will expand the Company's existing lead-generation and opt-in email channels. Web Clients' websites complement ValueClick's Media, Commission Junction, Hi-Speed Media, Search123, and Pricerunner businesses, and can be leveraged across the Company's online marketing services portfolio and advertiser base. E-Babylon will expand ValueClick's e-commerce channel and provide the infrastructure to support all of the Company's e-commerce initiatives.

(BUSINESS WIRE)

9.6.05

IAC/InterActiveCorp / VUE

Barry Diller's Internet conglomerate IAC/InterActiveCorp said Wednesday it is selling its stake in Vivendi Universal Entertainment for $3.4 billion, ridding the billionaire investor's company of a convoluted relationship as it gears up to enter the lucrative online search engine market.

The deal turns over New York-based IAC's 5.4 percent stake in Paris-based Vivendi to NBC Universal, which runs the television, theme parks and movie divisions owned by Fairfield, Conn.-based General Electric Co.

IAC and Vivendi also agreed to drop lawsuits that they had filed against each other in Delaware.

The truce ends an acrimonious alliance created when Diller -- the former head of Paramount Pictures and the Fox television network -- sold the USA network and other cable properties in 2002.

IAC's shares surged $1.17 to close at $25.81during late trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market while General Electric's shares edged fell 4 cents to close at $36.80 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Shedding Vivendi enables IAC to intensify its focus on a stable of popular Web sites that includes Ticketmaster, LendingTree, Match.com and Evite.com.

The company also owns the online travel agency Expedia, but it's preparing to spin off that site, along with Hotels.com and Hotwire.com, to make it easier for investors to grasp the value of its vastly different holdings.

IAC is hoping to accelerate its growth later this year after it completes its pending $2 billion acquisition of Ask Jeeves Inc., an Oakland-based company that runs the fifth most popular search on the Internet.

Diller wants to transform Ask Jeeves into a more formidable challenger to the two dominant search engines, Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., and generate more advertising revenue.

IAC's decision to spin off its online travel sites and expand into Internet search is raising investor expectations, said analyst Martin Pyykkonen of Janco Partners. "I don't think people are quite ready to declare Barry Diller a genius again, but people are feeling better about this stock than they have been," he said.

Under the terms of complicated deal announced Wednesday, IAC is getting back about 56.6 million of its own stock that had been held by Vivendi, as well $865 million from the sale of U.S. Treasury bonds that had secured its interests.

Vivendi also is paying an additional $235 million in cash while General Electric is chipping in $800 million, including $100 million of free advertising that IAC will be able to use on NBC or one of its other television networks.

(AP)

7.6.05

Scripps / Shopzilla

Media company E.W. Scripps Co. on Monday said it will spend $525 million in cash to acquire privately held Shopzilla.com, the latest deal on Wall Street to capitalize on the growing specialized Internet search business.

Scripps said it will buy 100 percent of the comparison shopping search engine. The deal also calls for Shopzilla shareholders to get the amount of its net working capital at the time of the closing, which is estimated at about $35 million.

The acquisition comes just days after eBay Inc. acquired Shopping.com, an online comparison shopping Web site, for $620 million in cash. Also last month, Web search engine Ask Jeeves Inc. agreed to be bought by Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp in a $1.9 billion deal.

"Shopzilla is a significant Internet play for Scripps," President and Chief Executive Kenneth W. Lowe said in a statement.

Los Angeles-based Shopzilla, formerly known as BizRate.com, will become a stand-alone operating unit of Scripps. The Web site has an index of more than 30 million products at 55,000 different stores, and helps shoppers find products for sale on the Internet.

Shopzilla, which attracted 14 million unique visitors during April, represents a significant expansion of the Scripps Internet business. Scripps already operates national and local online brands -- including FoodNetwork.com, HGTV.com, DIYNetwork.com, fineliving.com, gactv.com and ShopatHomeTV.com.

(AP)

3.6.05

Youbet.com / International Racing Group

Youbet.com, Inc. announced today that it has completed the acquisition of the stock of International Racing Group (IRG), a privately-held, pari-mutuel wagering company based in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, and an affiliated company, It's All Good Buddy, Inc., a Nevada corporation. Youbet expects that it will operate these companies as separate legal entities.

The acquisition of IRG is expected to be accretive to Youbet's operating results. The total consideration for IRG paid at closing was $3.0 million, comprised of $2.0 million in cash and an aggregate of 166,668 shares of Youbet treasury stock. In addition, based on IRG's future performance, the sellers may be entitled to receive installment and other payments of up to $9.7 million plus annual earn-out payments, payable over the next three years. Youbet today filed a current report on Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission that includes the requisite pro forma financial information and the executed Stock Purchase Agreement.

(BUSINESS WIRE)

2.6.05

Citrix / NetScaler

Citrix Systems, Inc., the global leader in access infrastructure solutions, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held NetScaler, Inc., a global leader in high-performance application networking. The transaction is valued at approximately $300 million in cash and stock, plus the assumption of approximately $23 million in unvested stock options. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2005 subject to customary closing conditions including shareholder and regulatory approvals.

NetScaler, founded in 1998, is based in San Jose, Calif., and has approximately 200 employees, with research and development teams in Silicon Valley and India. The company pioneered the market for next-generation application networking acceleration and initially rose to prominence in the Internet market, delivering technology to top companies such as Google, Amazon, Dow Jones, Earthlink, E*Trade, MSN and Ticketmaster. Today, NetScaler estimates that up to 75 percent of all Internet users go through a NetScaler system each day. NetScaler now has more than 500 enterprise customers and over 3,000 deployments of its award-winning products, including Fortune 500 leaders Merrill Lynch, JC Penney, 7-Eleven, Blue Cross, Ford and United Airlines, and is consistently ranked number one in both performance and customer satisfaction.

(BUSINESS WIRE)

VoIP, Inc. / Caerus, Inc.

VoIP, Inc. and Caerus, Inc. announced today they have completed the acquisition of Caerus by VoIP and will immediately begin the process of merging operations. As part of the agreement, VoIP, Inc. has acquired 100 percent of the business of Caerus, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries Volo Communications, Inc., Caerus Networks, Inc., and Caerus Billing, Inc. in exchange for 16.9 million common shares of VoIP Inc. stock - a transaction valued at $30 million. VoIP, Inc. will continue to operate Caerus, Inc. and its subsidiaries under their existing names, consolidating all operations under VoIP, Inc. Steven Ivester continues as CEO of VoIP, Inc. and all of the subsidiaries, and Shawn Lewis, Caerus' Founder and CEO becomes Chief Technology Officer of VoIP, Inc. Further details of the transaction can be found in the Company's Form 8-K filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

VoIP, Inc. CEO Steven Ivester commented, "The synergies of VoIP, Inc. and Caerus are unmistakable and cannot be found anywhere else in the industry. We are creating a combined company with one of the broadest product offerings, deepest distribution channels, largest sales and service support teams - which just doubled in size - in the industry - not to mention one of the largest proprietary Voice over IP (VoIP) networks in the U.S. It's a combination that will benefit all of VoIP, Inc. and Caerus, Inc. customers and suppliers."

(BUSINESS WIRE)

IKANO / CookeNET & CompuWise

IKANO Communications, the world's largest provider of private-label Internet services, has acquired the subscriber bases of two Texas-based Internet Service Providers, CookeNET Internet Services and CompuWise Internet Solutions, serving the Gainesville and Decatur markets. Both ISPs were previously operated by Morgan Publishing, a digital and print publishing company based in Bowie, Texas.

IKANO will maintain the CookeNET and CompuWise names and build on the strength of the two brands. Subscribers will be able to continue using their existing email addresses.

"With this acquisition, customers of CookeNET and CompuWise will be able to continue using the same services that they have become accustomed to as well as a full complement of new services designed to improve their overall Internet experience," said Henry Smith, president and CEO of IKANO Communications.

(PRNewswire)


EBay / Shopping.com

eBay Inc. said Wednesday it would acquire comparison shopping and consumer review site Shopping.com Inc. for about $620 million in cash.

Executives at the San Jose, Calif.-based online auction giant said the purchase, expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2005, puts eBay sellers in touch with a new set of potential buyers and boosts the number of fixed-price sales listings, which are growing more popular with online shoppers.

The deal also expands the auctioneer's efforts to provide more reviews and customer feedback about products listed on the site. Brisbane, Calif.-based Shopping.com controls Epinions, a site containing more than 400,000 amateur reviews on items ranging from computer servers to mountain bikes.

The acquisition caps an aggressive buying spree at eBay, one of the world's largest e-commerce companies and a rare dot-com survivor in Silicon Valley's five-year economic downturn.

In December, eBay purchased the privately held Santa Monica, Calif.-based real estate firm Rent.com for about $415 million in stock and cash.

Many of its biggest deals in the past year have been abroad. EBay revenue outside of the United States last quarter was $393.8 million, up 52 percent from the same period in 2004.

Last year, eBay purchased India's most popular online shopping site, Baazee.com, for $50 million, and it bought the leading Dutch classified site, Marktplaats.nl, for about $290 million. In September, it increased its stake in Internet Auction Co., South Korea's largest online auction company, with an investment of more than $325 million.

In 2003, eBay completed its purchase of China's largest e-commerce site, EachNet, for $150 million, after an initial investment of $30 million. EBay is adding new users in China faster than those in any other country and now ranks as the No. 1 e-commerce company there.

But a senior executive said the Shopping.com deal shows that the company is still committed to expanding its audience the United States, which isn't considered a high-growth market but remains by far the world's largest for both online and traditional retailers.

"The intent of the Shopping.com acquisition was to aid eBay's overall global marketplace, but it does indicate that we are still strongly investing in the U.S. business," said Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon.

According to the terms of the deal, eBay will acquire all outstanding shares of Shopping.com stock for $21 per share in cash, a premium over its $17.44 close on NASDAQ Wednesday, before the deal was announced.

The stock closed regular trading up 37 cents, or about 2 percent. In after hours trading, it gained $3.46, or nearly 20 percent, and traded at $20.90.

The total purchase price would be about $620 million, based on the number of Shopping.com shares outstanding as of Tuesday.

Lorrie Norrington, president and CEO of Shopping.com, said the 220-person company doesn't plan to lay off workers because of the deal. EBay, which employs about 9,000 people, will absorb the Shopping.com workers.

"Our message has been that this is all about growth," Norrington said Wednesday.

EBay stock gained $1.11, or nearly 3 percent, and closed NASDAQ trading Wednesday at $39.11. In after-hours trading, it lost 33 cents, or less than 1 percent, and traded at $38.78.

(AP)

1.6.05

IGN Entertainment / AskMen.Com

IGN Entertainment, home to IGN.com, the web site with the Internet's highest audience composition of unique male visitors aged 18 to 34 -- today announced that it has acquired AskMen.com, the Internet's number one male lifestyle web site. The acquisition increases the total reach of IGN's audience by approximately three million visitors and further strengthens the company's position as one of the web's top providers of content and community for the 18-34 male demographic.

"IGN has always been about the gamer and male lifestyle," said Mark Jung, president and CEO of IGN Entertainment. "Adding AskMen.com to our network of properties will allow us to deepen our lifestyle offerings to gamers while giving AskMen.com readers access to the web's best gaming information and community."

AskMen.com, an online resource for men with daily features on subjects such as dating, women, fashion, money, fitness and entertainment, has consistently ranked No. 1 by visits in the "Lifestyle - Men's Sites" category against all other web sites, according to Hitwise. Approximately 85% of AskMen.com's audience is male, and, according to Hitwise, the site enjoys a 26% market share of all web visits to men's lifestyle sites -- more than MaximOnline.com, MensHealth.com and GQ (men.style.com), combined.

AskMen.com reached a worldwide audience of 3.8 million in March 2005, and the combined, unduplicated audience for IGN Entertainment and AskMen that same month would have totaled 27.0 million, according to comScore Media Metrix(TM)(a). In addition, when AskMen.com releases its annual "Top 99 Most Desirable Women" feature every January, the site's traffic spikes to record levels. In January 2005, AskMen.com reached 5.1 million unique visitors and generated 58 million page views, according to comScore Media Metrix(a).

(BUSINESS WIRE)

ICOA / WiSE Technologies

ICOA, Inc., a national provider of wireless broadband Internet networks and managed services in airports, restaurants, marinas and hot zones, announced today it has closed its acquisition of WiSE Technologies, Inc., a Landover, Md. provider of Wi-Fi services to airports, hospitality, higher education, multiple dwelling units (MDUs), highway plazas and cafes.

The WiSE footprint includes over 50 high-traffic public locations including airports, university campuses, travel plazas, hotels, cafes, marinas and large apartment complexes (MDUs). All WiSE locations will be integrated into ICOA's national infrastructure.

(PRNewswire-FirstCall)