Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is making another acquisition to move into specialty retail areas, this time in the realm of babycare products. Jeff Bezos and friends are acquiring a company called Quidsi, Inc., which operates Diapers.com as an online baby care specialty site and Soap.com as an online site for everyday essentials.
In addition to Diapers.com and Soap.com, Quidsi recently launched BeautyBar.com, a prestige beauty boutique. Quidsi will follow the Zappos trend where it will continue to operate independently under its current leadership team.
Amazon is acquiring Quidsi for approximately $500 million in cash, as adjusted for the assumption of options and warrants. Amazon is also assuming approximately $45 million in debt and similar obligations and the deal is expected to close in December.
Jeff Bezos was even quoted as saying, “I’m not sure which is more unpleasant—changing diapers, paying too much for them, or running out of them.” Too bad the spelling of “kidzy” is going to be difficult for many to remember.
JON C. OGG