E-commerce enabling company ShopNow.com Inc. acquired Freemerchant.com, an e-commerce
technology and application service provider serving small and medium size
businesses, in a $34 million deal.
ShopNow.com said that as a result it will add the Freemerchant Network of
more than 65,000 businesses to its b2bNow Network of over 600,000 businesses,
the ShopNow Network of over 50,000 merchants
and the BottomDollar Network of over 2,400
commerce-enabled sites.
ShopNow.com will integrate Freemerchant’s commerce technology into its
existing
networks, adding to its e-commerce enabling services.
The company said it will continue to license the Freemerchant business store
builder
technology and commerce services to businesses, community sites, commerce
sites and other third party e-commerce providers.
The deal involves $32 million in ShopNow.com common stock and $2 million in
cash. ShopNow.com intends to move Freemerchant.com’s operations from
Emeryville, CA, to its San Francisco office and retain all employees.
” by growing our commerce networks we anticipate an expansion in revenues
from the increased number of e-commerce transactions we process and an
increase in the number of licensed e-commerce enabled partners on our
networks,” said Dwayne Walker, chairman and chief executive officer of
ShopNow.com (SPNW).
Freemerchant.com’s free solutions include a business or merchant store
builder, store hosting, a secure shopping cart and a product catalog.
Launched in December 1998, Freemerchant.com generates revenue by offering the
goods and services of its partners at a discount, for a commission, and by
splitting ad revenue with member stores.