CNET Purchases Software Site

Technology publisher CNET Inc. made its second acquisition of the week Wednesday with its $11.5 million purchase of software site WinFiles.com.

CNET agreed to pay WinFiles owner Jenesys LLC $5.75 million once the transaction closes and will make an additional $5.75 million payment 18 months after the closing.

WinFiles.com offers a variety of shareware, freeware and demo software for Windows 95, 98, NT and CE. WinFiles will join several other software sites in CNET’s network, including Download.com and Shareware.com.

CNET Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Halsey Minor said the acquisition gives CNET a chance to build on the popularity of its software libraries.

“CNET has aggregated an enormous audience at its software downloading services, which execute nearly 1 million software downloads every day. By expanding this influential audience of software downloaders, which is also highly motivated to purchase software, CNET is well positioned to take advantage of the predicted growth in software sales and delivery via the Internet,” he said.

Nish Bhutani, vice president of CNET’s products group, said the acquisition answers user demand for popular software.

“Software downloading is one of the most popular services we offer. The addition of WinFiles.com will help us continue to grow this key feature of our network,” Bhutani said.

The purchase of WinFiles.com follows Monday’s purchase of Auction Gate Interactive for $5.8 million in stock.