Espotting to merge with FindWhat

By Steve Malone

Posted on 19 Jun 2003 at 11:16

Espotting, the UK's largest pay per click online advertising service has signed an agreement to merge with US based FindWhat.

The deal, which gives the Espotting shareholders 30 per cent of the new company, values Espotting at $163mn.

Founded in 2000, Espottingnow covers a range of markets across Europe, including the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Ireland and Switzerland and claims over 16,000 clients. Its business model is to provide contextual links to advertisers on a pay per click basis. FindWhat, runs a very similar service in the US. By merging, the new company will gain access to each other's markets at a time when they face ever strengthening competition from Google and Overture.