Looking to fortify access to its e-commerce services, NBC Internet Inc. Monday bought
privately-held Flyswat Inc. for about
$100 million in stock.
Flyswat’s technology establishes links to Internet content and commerce services on any Web site or
personal document. Specific financial details of the purchase were not given. NBCi expects the deal to close by May.
Flyswat’s core service is a free, downloadable tool that identifies and
hyperlinks existing words or phrases in any Web page, enabling users to
retrieve relevant information by clicking on these terms. The Flyswat
service also is compatible with any desktop application, such as word
processing, spreadsheets, slideshow presentations and more.
When users click on terms in their personal documents and Web pages, a small
window appears presenting definitions, related content and e-commerce
service links, news headlines, stock listings, shopping opportunities, or
any other relevant information from NBCi (NBCI)
and other content providers.
Flyswat’s engineering team will work with NBCi’s teams to help develop new
versions of the Flyswat service, as well as better broadband interfaces
for NBCi’s broadband portal service, NBCi.com.
“Flyswat’s best-of-breed service will bring NBCi and our e-commerce and
advertising partners directly into users’ lives when they surf the Internet
and work on documents on their computers,” said Will Lansing, NBCi’s chief
executive officer. “We look forward to building Flyswat’s features, content
and distribution through partnerships and alliances.”
The deal follows last week’s appointment of William Lansing, a former
executive at Fingerhut and General Electric, as its chief executive officer.
He replaced Chris Kitze, who was appointed vice chairman at NBCi.
