Microsoft To Acquire Ciao.com
Posted on: Friday, 29 August 2008, 12:30 CDT
In an ambitious attempt to boost its Internet search and e-commerce business in Europe, Microsoft has agreed to buy Greenfield Online, owner of European price comparison website ciao.com, for about $486 million.
Microsoft said on Friday the acquisition should benefit its Live Search platform.
Recent data published by Web usage tracker ComScore shows Google continues to dominate Internet search with 62 percent of the global search market and 79 percent in Europe.
Microsoft is behind both Google and Yahoo with its 2 percent market share in Europe and 9 percent worldwide. In Europe, online auction site eBay and Russia’s Yandex also outrank Microsoft.
"The team at Ciao has built a passionate consumer community based on intuitive technology and extensive merchant relationships that we believe will deliver incremental benefit to the Microsoft Live Search platform," said Microsoft's vice president for Windows and online services, Tami Reller.
Ciao.com makes its revenues from e-commerce, merchant referrals and advertising sales. The site offers advice on purchases, mainly of consumer electronics, and encourages users to join a network of shopping experts to share opinions.
Microsoft's $17.50 per share offer betters an earlier proposal by media-focused U.S. buyout firm Quadrangle Group to acquire the company for $15.50 a share, and represents a slight premium to Greenfield's closing price of $17.25 on Thursday.
Greenfield had said it had received a $17.50 per share on August 26, but did not reveal from whom. The latest offer represents a premium of about 10 percent over Greenfield's closing share price on August 25.
Microsoft said it had agreed to sell off Greenfield Online's main business, which surveys consumer opinion online and sells the results to market researchers, to an unnamed financial buyer.
The two companies said completion of the Greenfield sale to Microsoft does not depend on Microsoft's disposal of the online survey business and both deals are expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2008.
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Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
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