eBay Inc. has agreed to buy Shopping.com for about $620 million in cash. Shopping.com provides a service where consumers can get online comparison shopping and reviews, and its acquisition will strengthen eBay's ability to bring consumers online comparison shopping to consumers.
San Jose, California-based Ebay said it agreed to buy Shopping.com for $21 per Shopping.com share in cash. Shopping.com's cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of May 31, 2005, were about $140 million, Ebay said.
The $21 price represents a 20 percent premium to Shopping.com's closing price of $17.44 on Nasdaq on Wednesday, where it rose 37 cents, or 2.2 percent. In after-hours trade, Shopping.com rose 20 percent to $20.90 on Inet.
Shopping.com currently has about 400,000 so-called "Epinion" reviewers which Ebay plans to add to its own community-feedback-based marketplace.