Fictionwise announced today that they have acquired eReader.com, "the world's largest ebook store." Terms of the deal were not disclosed. From the
press release:
Quote:
"eReader.com is one of the crown jewels of the eBook world," commented Steve Pendergrast, co-founder of Fictionwise, Inc. "With this acquisition, Fictionwise breaks into the very top ranks of the eBook retail market. Synergies between our business units will open the door to some very interesting developments for our customers in the coming months."
"Over the years, eReader.com nurtured and grew a loyal following of customers while pioneering methods to help raise the general adoption and consumption of eBooks, " said Chris Chuang, Vice President of Strategic Development for Motricity. "eReader.com is a strong strategic fit with Fictionwise, not only in terms of the additional customer footprint it brings, but also in that Fictionwise is acquiring some of the leading technologies and infrastructure in the eBooks market."
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eReader has a long history of changing hands. I am not sure if I'll get it all right, but I try. Once upon a time, there was a small publisher named Peanut Press. Peanut Press got bought by a company called NetLibrary (2000). One year later, Palm acquired Peanut Press from NetLibrary and turned it into Palm Digital Media. Then, in 2003, meanwhile Palm's e-book devision was transferred to PalmSource (a former Palm subsidiary), PalmGear (then already a subsidiary of PowerByHand, today known as Motricity) jumped in and acquired the e-book company. One year later, in 2004, Motricity renamed Palm Digital Media into eReader.com.
Given eReader.com's decade-long history of acquisitions, I think it's time to give this old baby some rest... let's hope it'll find it with Fictionwise!
[via
TeleRead]