eBay acquires StumbleUpon search engine

Pays $75 million for Web 3.0 pioneer

31 May 2007 10:29 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

eBay has announced that it has acquired StumbleUpon, a San Fran-based software start-up.

StumbleUpon, a company eBay paid $75 million for, is a search-engine-with-a-difference, as 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.

StumbleUpon was founded in 2001 by three software engineers and boasts 2.3 million users, a figure that is increasing rapidly.

This new kind of intelligent search functionality has been dubbed part of the "Web 3.0" movement, which means (among other things) content for individuals that makes the internet more personal, and therefore more relevant to users.

Analysts say that the recommendation features built into StumbleUpon could work for eBayers to locate auctions that interest them, similar to the way Amazon suggests products based on recent purchases.

eBay has recently been acquring companies to help them compete against other online giants. Recent purchases inlcude Skype, Shopping.com, Rent.com, and the $310 million buyout of online ticket vendor StubHub.