Scripps Buys Shopzilla

E.W. Scripps(SSP), one of the oldest media companies in the U.S., is entering the Internet retail search business by acquiring Shopzilla, the company announced today.

Cincinnati-based Scripps is home to cable networks the Food Network and Home & Garden TV along with a healthy stable of newspapers and television stations. In Shopzilla, Scripps has found an entry point into the online price comparison shopping business. The site had 14 million unique visitors in April.

Scripps will pay $525 million for the privately held company. Shareholders in Shopzilla will also get $35 million in net working capital back. Shares in E.W. Scripps were down 15 cents to $51.12 at market close today.

"Shopzilla is a significant Internet play for Scripps," said Chief Executive Kenneth Lowe. "In many ways, like our other media businesses, Shopzilla is a content company. By organizing shopping information so that consumers can buy almost any product from a wide variety of merchants, the Shopzilla team has taken commerce and content and melded the two together to produce an extremely compelling value proposition to consumers and merchants alike."

Using a proprietary algorithm called ShopRank, Shopzilla helps consumers find low prices for millions of products. Shopzilla's revenue is driven by referral fees paid by participating online retailers.

Last week, eBay made a similar moving, picking off Shopping.com for $620 million.

Shopzilla will become a stand-alone operating unit of Scripps, according to the company.

>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints