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AMZN buys LiveBid.com
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April 12, 1999: 3:07 p.m. ET
Amazon.com paying undisclosed sum for auction site and software company
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Delving deeper into the Internet auction space, Amazon.com said Monday it will purchase LiveBid.com for an undisclosed sum.
The Seattle-based online bookseller, which has been on a tear in boosting its cyberspace domain, will pair with a cross-town pioneer of live-event online auctions, the companies said.
The deal comes roughly two weeks after Amazon unveiled its own online auction service, pitting it squarely against sector leader eBay (EBAY), and other auction purveyors such as OnSale (ONSL) and uBid (UBID).
In the latest deal, Amazon.com (AMZN) lands LiveBid.com's proprietary software, allowing the broadcast of real-time auctions through the Internet. Amazon said it is poised to ally with traditional auction houses.
"The big winners here are the world's traditional auction houses," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder and chief executive, in a statement. "We're going to actively team up with them so they can expand their reach with LiveBid's technology and Amazon.com's 8 million customers."
Wall Street appeared to be listening to that Monday. Shares of top-name auction house Sotheby's (BID) climbed 2-5/16 to 38-3/16. Key rival Christie's International is private.
Shares of Amazon.com (AMZN) added 1-3/8 to 184-1/4 around 2:45 p.m. ET Monday.
The shares have been one of the standouts in a searing-hot Internet sector in the past year, making the stock a handy currency for buyouts.
Amazon has become a poster boy for the sector, gaining much notoriety for not having yet posted a quarterly profit, like many other Internet-related companies. 
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LiveBid.com
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