Yahoo sells bargain shopping site Kelkoo

AFTER MANY MONTHS of speculation, Yahoo finally appears to have sold off comparative shopping Web site, Kelkoo to a UK-based private equity firm called Jamplant.

Paris-based Kelkoo was snapped up by the Internet portal in 2004 for €475 million (now $598 million). Although Yahoo is not commenting about the terms of the deal, Kelkoo’s ex-CEO, Pierre Chappaz, admitted it sold for a heavily-discounted price of less than €100 million ($126 million).

Kelkoo has been something of an albatross around Yahoo’s already scrawny neck, with the European comparison shopping service finding it especially difficult to deal with competition sites. But Jamplant, created by the founders of American price comparison site USwitch, seem to think it’ll have better luck running a bargain-hunting shopping site in the credit crunch.

Chappaz certainly seems keen for some better management. Noting the massive price discrepancy between Yahoo’s buying and selling price, Chappaz noted, "The difference is the price of management incompetence that led Yahoo’s (stock price to fall) below $9."

Kelkoo counts 270 staff members in its Grenoble and London offices. µ

L'Inq
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