Online marketing search company GoTo.com Inc has agreed to acquire Cadabra Inc, which operates a free internet-based comparison shopping service, for $250m in stock and cash. GoTo.com said the acquisition will allow it to expand its search service – which is designed to introduce consumers and advertisers – to include online shopping. The integration of Cadabra’s shopping guide will allow GoTo.com to connect buyers looking for specific products and prices to a range of merchants.
Terms of the deal, which is expected to be completed in January 2000, call for Pasadena, California-based GoTo.com to hand over $8m in cash and $242m in common shares for all of the outstanding shares of San Mateo-based Cadabra. Cadabra was founded in 1996 through funding from the US Department of Commerce, Network Associates Inc and Knight-Ridder Ventures.
