Business e-commerce firm Ariba, Inc.
Thursday acquired
TRADEX Technologies, Inc. in a move to
add to its business-to-business services.
Privately-held TRADEX provides a variety of tools and services for net
markets, specifically designed to enable multiple buyers and sellers to
exchange goods, services and information in online trading communities.
Net markets are sites on the Internet that bring together fragmented
groups of buyers and suppliers to create larger, more efficient
markets with greater buying power, according to TRADEX. They include
vertical marketplaces
that focus on specific industries and/or direct goods and horizontal
marketplaces that invite other buyers in shared
corporate exchange.
Ariba (ARBA)
will pay approximately $1.86 billion in stock to acquire TRADEX. The
companies expect the transaction to close in the second quarter of 2000.
With the acquisition, Ariba said it form a new business unit to focus on net
market services. Already considered a front-runner in the B2B e-commerce
space, the acquisition is part of Ariba’s strategy to create “the industry’s
first best-of-breed global B2B e-commerce platform.”
“Net markets are a core pillar in our strategy to extend Ariba’s leadership
in buy-side e-commerce to leadership across business-to-business
e-commerce, period,” said Keith Krach, Ariba’s chairman and chief executive officer.
“The TRADEX team and solutions will accelerate Ariba’s time to market in
this fast-moving
strategic high ground, giving Ariba the opportunity to partner with net
market makers in a broad array of industries and geographies.”
Thursday’s acquisition adds to the services Ariba acquired when it purchased TradingDynamics Inc. in November
for $400 million. TradingDynamics provides services for business customers
including auctions, reverse
auctions, requests for quotes and exchanges.
