Online software retailer Beyond.com Wednesday bought Paris-based online software reseller SoftGallery SARL, marking Beyond.com’s expansion into Europe.
Beyond.com
(BYND) will purchase SoftGallery in a $5 million cash and stock deal.
SoftGallery will bring its portal alliances with Wanadoo, a subsidiary of France Telecom, AOL France and Club-Internet to the deal, which Beyond.com will use to brand its services in Europe.
The companies expect the merger to take advantage of Europe’s expected online software sales boom, as predicted by Datamonitor and Jupiter Communications.
“International e-commerce solutions that allow customers to buy in their own language and currency are the new standard, and Beyond.com intends to be very aggressive in its effort to excel in this international
arena,” said Mark Breier, Beyond.com’s president and chief executive
officer.
Beyond.com last week rolled out three Symantec Corp. online software stores in France, Germany and the UK, offering services in each country’s language and currency. The three stores are the first of 11 Symantec international online software stores which Beyond.com will launch by the end of this year.