Kurant, a leading provider of e-business software for small and medium-sized businesses (www.kurant.com), and eBay, the World's Online Marketplace (Nasdaq:EBAY)(www.ebay.com), today announced that they have signed an agreement whereby eBay will acquire Kurant's technology assets, primarily advanced software relating to online stores.
In addition to the asset acquisition, eBay also expects to hire nearly all of the Kurant team and continue to support Kurant's current customer base.
eBay does not expect the acquisition, which is a cash transaction, to have a material impact on 2005 net revenue and earnings. The transaction is expected to close in the current quarter. Further terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
About Kurant
Kurant Corporation provides software that enables small businesses to conduct business online through dynamic, interactive Web sites. StoreSense(TM), its flagship product, is a comprehensive e-commerce platform that allows companies to easily add commerce to an existing Web site or create a sophisticated Web Store including: inventory management, supplier communication and integration with QuickBooks(TM). StoreSense(TM) is delivered to small businesses through Kurant's global resellers that include financial service organizations, Web hosting companies and trusted small business partners. Incorporated in 1998, San Francisco-based Kurant is privately held.
About eBay
eBay is The World's Online Marketplace(R). Founded in 1995, eBay created a powerful platform for the sale of goods and services by a passionate community of individuals and businesses. On any given day, there are millions of items across thousands of categories for sale on eBay. eBay enables trade on a local, national and international basis with customized sites in markets around the world. Through an array of services, such as its payment solution provider PayPal, eBay is enabling global e-commerce for an ever growing online community.
Forward Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements regarding the expected impact of the acquisition of Kurant on eBay's net revenue and earnings. Those statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those discussed. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the possibility that the transaction may not close, the reaction of the users of Kurant's and eBay's services, the future growth of Kurant's services, the reaction of competitors to the transaction, and the possibility that integration following the transaction may be more difficult than expected. More information about potential factors which could affect eBay's business and financial results is included in eBay's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003 and the company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and will be included in eBay's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004, which will be filed in the first quarter of 2005. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to eBay on the date hereof, and eBay assumes no obligation to update such statements.