Yahoo recently closed on a deal to purchase e-commerce platform Lexity for an undisclosed sum in what is now the 20th acquisition since Google veteran Marissa Mayer took the helm just over a year ago. The four-year-old company will remain up and running although it will eventually be renamed to reflect Yahoo’s branding.
Interestingly enough, Lexity was founded by former Yahoo employee Amit Kumar and managed to raise $5.7 million to get going. The company’s flagship app, Lexity Live, works directly with small businesses / merchants to analyze their customers and provide insight on how to improve sales, among other things. At present, the company conducts business with tens of thousands of clients across 114 different countries according to a post on Lexity’s blog by Kumar.
This acquisition is a bit different than others from Mayer, however. A majority of Yahoo’s previous purchases took place simply to acquire talent to help rejuvenate the struggling Internet pioneer. With Lexity, Yahoo plans to continue to operate the service and will likely try to integrate it with some of their other services.
As TechCrunch suggests, it’s plausible that Yahoo may attempt to convince Lexity merchants to buy ads through Yahoo or perhaps even host their blogs on Tumblr. Either way, Yahoo’s recently spending spree will ultimately either lead to a tremendous turnaround or perhaps one of the biggest flops of our time. If I was the betting type, I’d put my money on Mayer to make it happen.
