Report: Amazon to acquire Diapers.com for $540 million |
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Report: Amazon to acquire Diapers.com for $540 million
Amazon.com has lately engaged in an aggressive price war with Diapers.com. Now comes word that Amazon is planning to acquire Diapers.com parent Quidsi. Fortune reports that Amazon has agreed to buy New Jersey-based Quidsi for $540 million in cash, with Quidsi founders Marc Lore and Vinnie Bharara staying on with multi-year employment contracts.
That would mark another big acquisition for Amazon, which last year acquired online shoe retailer Zappos in a $1.2 billion deal.
Amazon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Quidsi also owns the website Soap.com. According to Fortune, Amazon has had its eye on Quidsi for a while, and the company also had a buyout offer from discount chain Wal-Mart.
Writes Fortune:
So what do these giants want with a diaper and soap dispenser? A rapidly growing company with a devoted base of customers that has figured out how to warehouse and ship commodity items quickly and profitably.
Amazon has been offering big discounts on diapers in an effort to undercut Diapers.com. So why acquire Diapers.com now? That's not clear, although Amazon has a history of first trying to kill a successful niche e-commerce site before buying it.
As Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh recounted in a recent interview with TechFlash, Amazon went out and started a competitor shoe site called Endless.com before eventually acquiring Zappos.
Amazon has definitely been showing an interest in diapers lately. The company just launched its first e-commerce storefront on Facebook for Pampers, and recently started offering a free membership program called Amazon Mom with discounts on diapers.
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