Ciao becomes Microsoft's latest acquisition

1st September 2008

Microsoft has revealed that it is acquiring shopping comparison site Ciao through the purchase of Greenfield Online.

The company will pay a consideration of $486 million (£268.9 million) for Greenfield and will use Ciao to supplement its existing search and e-commerce operations in Europe.

Microsoft has also entered into an agreement to sell Greenfield's internet survey solutions division to an unnamed buyer.

Ciao is visited by 26.5 million web users every month, according to comScore. The site features some five million user-generated product reviews.

John Mangelaars, vice-president of consumer and online for Microsoft Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: "Integrating Ciao's capabilities into Live Search will provide a strong launchpad for our commercial search offer in Europe and enhance our e-commerce offering on MSN."

Earlier this year, Microsoft launched a new service linking its Live Search engine with a shopping cashback service.

Live Search cashback allows consumers to earn rebates when they buy products from vendors partnering with the program through the search engine.