Although it was just a few days ago that Amazon slashed the price of the Kindle 2 from $254.00 to $189.99 and just yesterday announced of an upcoming Kindle DX Graphite edition for $379.99. Today’s news has Amazon making another acquisition of a company in the form of Woot.com, in the tune of a reported $110 million dollars.
Woot is an online shopping site with a loyal base of around 2.75 million users. Its claim to fame was an online “deal of the day” concept selling one item each day for a significantly marked-down price. Items range from flat-screen TVs and PlayStation 3’s to Microsoft Zune players. The site has become so popular that it’s not uncommon for items to sell out within in minutes. To mark the acquisition of Woot, todays sold-out item of the day: the Kindle 2 for $149!
The CEO of Woot.com, Matt Rutledge, said that while Amazon did buy the company, Woot will remain and run the same way it has for years, “with a wall of ideas and a dartboard.” He continued, saying that the Woot vision will remain the same, “somehow earning a living on snarky commentary and junk.” The habitual jokers did not reveal the financial details of the purchase; however technology blog Techcrunch reported that Seattle based Amazon paid entirely in cash.
For Amazon, the acquisition marks another significant addition to its vast empire. Besides expanding into eReader, cloud computing, and crowd sourcing services, the company also acquired Zappos, the popular shoe shopping site, last year and the online audio book provider, Audible.com, in 2008. They also acquired earlier this year Touchco whom specialises in E-Ink screens, so Amazon will spend less to manufacture future Kindle E-Reader devices.
What is Amazon planning for the near future? Well for starters they are increasing the royalties amount they are paying authors who use Amazons Self-Publishing Digital Text Platform, which doubles Amazons prior offerings. Competition from the iBookstore from Apple and the upcoming PubIt platform from Barnes and Noble also offers self-publishers 60% royalties.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
