Amazon buys Zappos for $928 million

Online retailing giant Amazon has agreed to buy online shoe retailer Zappos for around $928 million, the biggest acquisition in its fourteen-year history.  Las Vegas-based Zappos is renowned for its customer service, free shipping and free returns policy, which helped it to achieve sales of $1 billion last year. Founded in 1999 and employing over 1,300 people, the retailer stocks over three million shoes, handbags, clothing items and accessories. Seattle-based Amazon, which was founded in 1994 as an online bookstore, is now the worldÔÇÖs largest online retailer, having expanded into retail categories such as electronics, clothing, music and toys. Its revenue in 2008 was $19.2 billion. Apparel is the largest online shopping category but one with which Amazon has had limited success. It made an effort to compete directly with Zappos through its footwear website Endless.com, launched in 2007, but industry analysts say the venture has fallen short of expectations. Zappos will be run as an independent entity and its brand will remain separate from AmazonÔÇÖs. Its management team will also┬ástay intact, according to reports. Amazon is to provide Zappos employees with $40 million in cash and restricted stock units as part of the deal. *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *