eBay buys StumbleUpon social bookmarking website

Web 2.0
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stumbleupon-screen.jpgIt’s a good week to be a Web 2.0 startup. Yesterday, personalised music service Last.fm got bought by CBS for $280 million, and today eBay has bought social bookmarking site StumbleUpon for $75 million.

The site has more than 2.5 million users bookmarking sites, which then get thrown up to other users in a vaguely random fashion. How does it fit into eBay’s online auctions business? It’s not immediately apparent, but then neither was eBay’s acquisition of VoIP firm Skype in the past.

Clearly, being able to promote StumbleUpon on eBay and to Skype users could massively boost its userbase. Meanwhile, the company’s three co-founders are presumably browsing speedboat catalogues fired up about joining Team eBay.

Stuart Dredge
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