Hearst Media has purchased Kaboodle, the social shopping & recommendation engine, for somewhere around $40 million (according to Om).
Following in the footsteps of Fox, Forbes, Dow Jones and other traditional media companies, Hearst is taking its turn with the start-up shopping experience which is quite attractive to the female market (Hearst publishes Cosmo, Teen & Good Housekeeping amongst man other strong female brands like Lifetime Television).
If your products aren’t on Kaboodle now, get them listed soon!
From the Press Release:
With this acquisition, Hearst will gain one of the leading sites specializing in social shopping, a combination of online shopping and social networking. Kaboodle’s social shopping community is changing the landscape of online shopping by connecting people with similar taste, and tying together the entire shopping process, from product discovery to purchase. Kaboodle launched its public beta in 2006 and already has more than 2 million unique monthly visitors.
“Kaboodle is a rapidly growing business in a distinctive and fascinating space,” said Kenneth A. Bronfin, president, Hearst Interactive Media. “We are delighted to become a significant player in the social shopping space and believe that Kaboodle will bring to social shopping what MySpace has brought to social media. This acquisition will enable Kaboodle to further expand its content and service offerings while also significantly increasing its advertiser base. In two short years, Manish and his team have created a very attractive business.”
