StumbleUpon buys itself back from eBay

"Returned to the ranks of an investor-backed startup"

14 April 2009 8:53 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

StumbleUpon has bought itself back from eBay after 2 years as a subsidiary of the online auction giant.

StumbleUpon, a web browsing recommendation site that provides peer generated search results based on a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" rating given by users with similar interests, was bought by eBay for $75 million.

The company says it has now "returned to the ranks of an investor-backed startup", with investment from the original company founders, Garrett Camp and Geoff Smith, as well as others.

"We are grateful to eBay for its guidance. However, we realized there were few long-term synergies between the two businesses. It is best for us to part ways and focus on our respective strengths", said Camp.

"This change makes it possible for StumbleUpon to continue to innovate and focus on becoming the Web's largest recommendation service".

StumbleUpon now says it "has plans for several new products and features to be released in the upcoming months". We will keep you posted.