Online auction marketplace eBay is to buy Magento, creator of the Magento open source ecommerce platform.
eBay says the acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, will allow it to meet the needs of developers and “drive global commerce innovation for retailers and consumers.” The company bought a minority stake in Magento last year but this deal will see it take full ownership.
eBay is behind X.Commerce, an integrated open commerce platform group, and is working to build a developer community that it says will be a resource for retailers of all sizes. It will say more about how it will leverage Magento’s assets and partner technologies to do this at the X.Commerce Innovate conference to be held in San Francisco in October.
John Donahoe, president and chief executive of eBay Inc, said: “Technology-driven innovation is blurring the lines between online and offline commerce, changing the way consumers shop and enabling retailers of all sizes to benefit from the developer community.
“The feedback we’ve heard from external developers has bveen clear – they don’t just want payments or an ecommerce site; they want access to a full set of commerce capabilities to build complete shopping experiences for merchants. We believe the acquisition of Magento and creation of our X.Commerce group will enable us to meet developers’ needs and drive global commerce innocation for retailers and consumers.”
And here’s a view on what the developer community makes of the deal, from Alex Schmelkin, president of Alexander Interactive.
