CyberSource Goes Gold

Business e-commerce firm CyberSource
Corp. Tuesday went shopping to purchase ExpressGold Inc., an online developer
of gift certificates for e-tailers, in an all stock deal.

The acquisition, worth approximately $72 million, is an expansion of
CyberSource’s (CYBS)
transaction services to business customers. ExpressGold will incorporate its
services into CyberSource’s suite of offerings, including virtual and
physical gift certificates, corporate incentive certificates and promotional
certificates.

All are part of CyberSource’s strategy to offer a variety of pre-paid
payment services to its customers, according to Bill McKiernan, chairman and
chief executive officer for CyberSource.

“ExpressGold’s extensive experience in stored value systems, the gift
certificate industry
and the Internet allows CyberSource to serve…online business needs and
further expand the range of service offerings available in the CyberSource
Internet Commerce Suite,” he said.

Tuesday’s deal follows an agreement in October in which CyberSource teamed
with Visa to co-develop a fraud protection tool.