InfoSpace Pays $38m for E-Commerce Firm Inex

Computergram International, August 17, 1999

Internet directory and content provider InfoSpace.com Inc has agreed to acquire Inex Corp of Toronto, Canada in an all-stock transaction. Redmond, Washington-based InfoSpace will hand over 900,000 common shares, valuing the deal at $37.6m based on Friday's closing price.

The acquisition is part of a push by InfoSpace to get into electronic commerce services, as Inex provides applications that allow merchants to build, manage and promote online storefronts. The acquired Inex technology will be used in connection with InfoSpace's ActiveShopper service, which lets consumers search for and buy products on the web.

InfoSpace said it will re-launch Inex's ezStore offering as InfoSpace.com StoreBuilder and adds that it will continue to offer and support Inex's suite of e-commerce applications as stand-alone offerings to hosting service providers. Merchants who use the Inex software to build web stores will then have their stores integrated with ActiveShopper, as well as InfoSpace's white pages, yellow pages and classifieds.

The deal will be accounted for as a pooling of interests and is expected to close in September. InfoSpace will consolidate operations in its Redmond headquarters but will also maintain a full sales office to support current Inex customers. Prior period financials will be restated after the completion of the acquisition. InfoSpace shares dipped $0.50 after the announcement Monday to close at $41.25.