We’re excited to let you know that eBay plans to acquire Shopping.com (www.shopping.com), a leader in online comparison shopping and consumer reviews.
This acquisition offers eBay sellers a new sales channel and access to a new set of buyers. Shopping on Shopping.com will be enhanced by the addition of eBay’s listings to the product selection already available on the site.
Shopping.com also provides consumer-generated product and merchant reviews on Epinions (www.epinions.com). We’ve been hearing from eBay buyers that product reviews would help you make better buying decisions. Epinions is complementary to eBay’s community-driven marketplace; there are currently more than a million consumer product reviews available to Epinions and Shopping.com users.
As you may know, the acquisition is subject to US regulatory and Shopping.com shareholder approvals. We expect our acquisition of Shopping.com to close in the third quarter of 2005. We will work with the Shopping.com team to refine plans as the deal closes and keep you informed.
