Acquisitions by Amazon.com

Acquisitions and spinoffs

Amazon bought the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) in April 1998.

Amazon bought Cambridge, Massachusetts-based PlanetAll in August 1998 for 800,000 shares of Amazon stock. PlanetAll operated a Web-based address book, calendar, and reminder service. In the same deal, Amazon acquired Sunnyvale-based Junglee.com, an XML-based data mining startup for 1.6 million shares of Amazon stock. The two deals together were valued at about US$280 million at the time. Most staff of both firms were absorbed by Amazon in early 1999. These employees went on to build community-focused features for the Amazon Web site, including Amazon.com Auctions, Amazon.com Marketplace, Friends & Favorites, and Purchase Circles.

In June 1999, Amazon bought Alexa Internet, Accept.com, and Exchange.com in a set of stock deals worth approximately US$645 million.

In 2004, Amazon purchased Joyo.com, a Chinese e-commerce Web site. It also debuted A9.com, a company focused on researching, and building innovative technology. One of the technologies A9.com was working on was a search engine with a "Search Inside the Book" feature allowing users to search within the text of books as well as searching for text on the Web. Another A9 technology was its "Find It on the Block" feature allowing users to find not just the phone number, address, map, and directions for a business; but to see a picture of it, and all the businesses and shops on that same street.

In March 2005, Amazon acquired BookSurge, a print on demand company and Mobipocket.com, an eBook software company.

In February 2006, Amazon acquired Shopbop, a Madison, Wisconsin-based retailer of designer clothing and accessories for women.^[7]

Amazon spinoffs include search technology company A9.com and shoe and handbag store Endless.com.

In May 2007, Amazon acquired dpreview.com, a London-based digital photography review website created by Phil Askey as his personal hobby website and Brilliance Audio, the largest independent publisher of audiobooks in the United States. ^[8]

Labels: news, technology

posted by Anshuman @ 12:37 AM