Bellevue, WA-based InfoSpace, the online metasearch and discovery company, said today it has acquired the assets of Mercantila, an online retail and e-commerce company based in San Francisco, for $8 million in cash plus up to $5.9 million in “certain liabilities.” InfoSpace (NASDAQ GS: [[ticker:INSP]]) says acquiring Mercantila’s e-commerce software and 200-plus specialty stores on the Web will help it expand its audience beyond search and “become a strong e-commerce player.” Mercantila is now a wholly owned subsidiary of InfoSpace run by Nikhil Behl, the former chief merchandising officer at Mercantila.
Author: Gregory T. Huang
Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003.
Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
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