SportsLine USA Inc. Tuesday purchased privately-held Internet retailer TennisDirect.com for about $770,000 in stock.
The acquisition gives SportsLine (SPLN)
visitors access to a line of about 10,000 tennis products in addition
to an extensive assortment of merchandise and memorabilia.
TennisDirect.com will be run as a subsidiary of SportsLine by Greg and
Chris Backus, co-founders of TennisDirect.com.
“We expect the addition of TennisDirect.com to the SportsLine e-commerce
family to enable us to become the leader in the online tennis retailing
space,” said Michael Levy, president and CEO of SportsLine USA, Inc.
“TennisDirect.com offers excellent customer service as well as the best
selection on name-brand tennis products available anywhere, ensuring that
tennis fans will have greater access to the top equipment and accessories
on the Internet.”
The move should allow SportsLine to leverage its strategic relationships,
including its promotion on CBS Sports tennis broadcasts and promotion of
tennis merchandise on Internet coverage of major events through CBS
SportsLine.com.