Global Sports Enters Luxury Gift Market with Ashford Buy
Global Sports Inc. bought luxury gifts retailer Ashford.com on Friday for $7.1 million.Global Sports, King of Prussia, PA, operates e-commerce sites for merchants. The company plans to use Houston-based Ashford to extend its reach into the luxury goods and corporate gift categories.
"This acquisition represents a significant step forward in our strategy to expand selectively beyond our initial category of sporting goods," said Michael G. Rubin, chairman/CEO of Global Sports. "In addition to the growth potential of extending our platform to operate Web sites within the luxury goods and corporate gifts categories, we expect that this acquisition will meet our principal criteria for category expansion initiatives by being incrementally profitable."
Ashford shareholders will receive 0.0076 of a share of Global Sports common stock and $0.13 cash for each share they own. The total deal is worth $14.2 million and is expected to close later this year or early 2002.
Ashford will be the 24th Web site operated by Global Sports.
