Scripps Buys Shopzilla & Did eBay Get a Steal of a Deal?
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Written By Reprise Media | June 7, 2005 | Share This
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If it seems like only yesterday that Shopping.com got acquired by eBay, it’s for good reason. Though not literally yesterday, it was less than a week ago. Today comes word of another major acquisition in specialized search, with E.W. Scripps purchasing Shopzilla for a cool $525 million in cash. The acquisition will take place some time around the third quarter of this year and is expected to generate $30+ million a year in revenue.
Started in the 1930s, Scripps maintains an impressive number of holdings in the newspaper, television, and cable TV biz, including national and local online brands such as HGTV.com and FoodNetwork.com. This move, part of a broader trend of traditional media companies buying up online properties, represents a bold move into the online shopping space.
When looked at in comparison to the Shopping.com deal, the Internet Stock Blog wonders whether eBay got too much of a price break. We’re wondering whether local businesses on Shopzilla will be able to benefit somehow from Scripps newspaper relationships (more on that from Greg Sterling).
These stories, plus Yahoo’s announcing the end of auction fees are further evidence of the shopping search vertical becoming more active than ever. We accurately foresaw a number of happenings in our 2005 Predictions, but this level of shakeup in shopping search wasn’t one of them. Guess we’re not Miss Cleo after all…
Topics: Investment, M&A |
This certainly makes a good point. I’d like to see the response of others on this topic. Makes interesting reading.
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