CMGI Inc., Andover, MA, yesterday bought uBid.com, Chicago, in a stock-for-stock merger valued at approximately $407 million. Ubid.com operates an online auction marketplace offering brand-name products to both consumers and businesses. The company allows consumers to set their own prices on popular products at significant discounts. The merger’s closing is planed for May following shareholder and regulatory approval.
CMGI controls more than 60 Internet companies around the world. It plans to accelerate uBid’s traffic growth and revenue streams by maximizing synergies with existing network properties such as MyWay.com, iCast, yesmail.com and Alta Vista.
“Online auctions, both B2C and B2B, are one of the fastest-growing areas of the Internet, and uBid.com has distinguished itself in the market with highly differentiated merchandising and inventory management capabilities that will prove hugely valuable as this model scales for the future,” said David Wetherell, chairman/CEO, CMGI.
“We believe there’s tremendous opportunity in applying these techniques to CMGI’s existing e-commerce companies and in building aggressively to extend these technologies into the emerging BTB marketplace through licensing and other channels,” he said.
