ValueClick Buys Pricerunner.com

[garyp]

ValueClick to Acquire Pricerunner.com; Interactive Marketing Leader to Expand Into Comparison Shopping
Source: Business Wire
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/Aug/1062458.htm

Pricerunner.com is the most popular comparison shopping site in Sweden and the third most popular site in the United Kingdom, enabling its users to search for and compare 170,000 products and 1,200 retailers online before they buy.

The addition of Pricerunner will expand ValueClick's suite of performance-based online marketing solutions into the high-growth area of comparison shopping - the most commerce-oriented form of search - and will expand ValueClick's presence in Europe

Under the terms of the agreement, ValueClick will acquire all outstanding equity interests in Pricerunner for an adjusted purchase price of approximately $29.0 million, including cash and approximately 263,000 shares of ValueClick common stock to be issued to three management shareholders of Pricerunner. In the transaction, ValueClick has agreed to provide additional cash and stock consideration totaling up to $6.0 million, contingent upon Pricerunner exceeding certain performance milestones.

On the news and word of soft guidance ValueClick was down $2.25 (http://www.thestreet.com/_more/tech/internet/10176183.html)

[garyp]

Clickz has a bit more about the acquisition.

ValueClick Details European Plans for Pricerunner
http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3393361


"The great thing about the Pricerunner business is that its technology" -- because it can be easily translated into new languages -- "lends itself to entering new markets," Carl White, managing director of ValueClick Europe, told ClickZ News.

After bringing Pricerunner into France and Germany -- Europe's biggest e-commerce market -- ValueClick plans to use the shopping search engine to make headway into Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium. Its greatest competition is likely from Yahoo!-owned Kelkoo, which operates in Belgium, France, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. White believes Pricerunner's product is second-to-none, however.

"One of the things that attracted us to Pricerunner was the consumer experience," he said. "We believe it has the best product in the European market."