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Vistaprint Buys Webs Inc.

Web-to-print provider Vistaprint has purchased website builder company Webs Inc. in a deal worth US$117.5 million. The acquisition was completed last Thursday and is Vistaprint’s second major purchase in two months; in October, Vistaprint purchased European photo book vendor Albumprinter for 60 million Euro.

“Webs’ suite of products delivers incredible value to micro businesses, helping them to look professional online in order to grow their business,” said Robert Keane, Chief Executive Officer of Vistaprint. “Vistaprint is already successfully delivering digital marketing services to our customer base, with hundreds of thousands of active registered customers and over $50 million in digital subscription revenues last fiscal year. Webs complements this success with a business model based primarily on free products that has achieved impressive customer reach. They are serving millions of users who are exactly the types of micro businesses that Vistaprint targets.”

Webs Inc. is a DIY website building tool, founded in 2001 as Freewebs. The service offered free website hosting (with built-in advertisements) with an option for users to upgrade to premium features. The company also operates Pagemodo, a tool for small businesses to create attractive Facebook pages, and ContactMe, a communications tool for micro businesses. The company claims its revenues for calendar year 2011 to be about US$9 million. The company was founded by three brothers from the Mokhtarzada family and has about 50 employees.