Yahoo Inc said on Friday it agreed to buy European price comparison Web site Kelkoo SA for about 475 million euros ($575 million) in cash to expand its range of Internet commerce portals.
The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter, helps Yahoo beef itself up in overseas markets to compete with Google Inc and Microsoft Corp's MSN unit in Web search technology.
Yahoo has already bought Overture and Inktomi to strengthen its Internet search operations.
"Commerce has emerged as a key component of search," said Yahoo Chief Executive Terry Semel in a statement on Friday.
Kelkoo, which has been profitable for more than a year, has long been tipped by European bankers as a potential candidate for an initial public offering or a sale to a company such as Yahoo or Google.
Comments
Comments are closed.