Amazon purchases Woot

Woot, the online deal site, has just been picked up by Amazon. Very little else is known about this acquisition apart from the fact that it will end up as an independent subsidiary just like the other acquisitions, Zappos and Audible. According to various sources, Woot was picked up for somewhere in the region of $110 million in cold hard cash, with Woot CEO Matt Rutledge emailing employees that despite this acquisition, not much would change even with new owners in place. Woot’s strength would be social shopping, letting users purchase an item at a discounted price until stock runs out, while offering room for them to discuss it in the company’s forums afterwards.