Contentinople - Erin Barker - News Bits: Amazon Buys Zappos.com

Written by Erin Barker

Thursday, July 23. 2009 at 10:30 AM EDT Post a comment

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Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) is acquiring online shoe retailer Zappos.com for about $847 million in cash and stock, in what amounts to the company's biggest acquisition yet.

The buy indicates that Amazon is trying to make headway in apparel, the largest online-shopping category, generating about $23 billion per year. Amazon previously tried to break into the market with Endless.com, but that site hasn't taken off. The acquisition of Zappos "doesn't imply the company is disappointed with Endless.com," an Amazon spokesman told The Wall Street Journal.

Amazon is paying with stock equal to $807 million and $40 million in cash, WSJ reports, though some say, based on yesterday's closing price, the cost was a bit higher.

In other news:

eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY)'s second-quarter results slightly exceeded analyst expectations yesterday, with PayPal and Skype driving growth. Overall second-quarter revenue was $2.1 billion, down 4 percent from last year, but the Payments business unit, which includes PayPal and Bill Me Later, boasted an 11 percent increase, and the Communications business unit, which includes Skype, saw a 25 percent jump from last year.

Apparently there's an intense rivalry going on between two competing iPhone apps, iFart and Pull My Finger, The Daily Show reported on Tuesday. In case you missed Tuesday's episode, the segment is posted below. The part where the Pull My Finger creator likens himself to Jackie Robinson is especially poignant.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
iFeud
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

Tags: Acquistions, Amazon, Apple, Earnings, iPhone

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