Pangora Take Over by US Shopping Specialist Become.com

KARLSRUHE, Germany - Become.com, a global leader in comparison shopping headquarted in Silicon Valley, California, USA, takes over online marketplace technology supplier Pangora GmbH, based in Karlsruhe, Germany. Pangora has been a subsidiary of LYCOS Europe N.V. since 2001. The acquisition by Become.com ensures that Pangora will continue to deliver shopping business technologies for portal operators and online shop customers, and strengthens its competetive position within Europe by its integration into a globally active enterprise.

Become Inc. was founded in 2004 by Internet pioneer Michael Yang. The US-based company employs 85 staff members worldwide; headquarted in Silicon Valley, the company is also based in Tokyo and London. The brand Become boasts a reach of 15 million visits monthly, placing it amongst the top ten of comparison shopping websites in the US. The acquisition of Pangora will enable Become.com to not only utilize synergies in technology, client base and online marketing, but is also viewed as an important step in strengthening its competetive position within the still strongly growing European e-commerce sector, in order to assume a leading industry role in comparison shopping.

“Pangora is the ideal partner with which to strengthen our position on the European market,” says Michael Yang, founder and CEO of Become.com. “The acquisiton of Pangora opens the possibility for us to accelerate our localisation strategy within Europe, enabling rapid growth in the UK, France, Italy and in Germany-speaking countries.”

“We are pleased that a significant international player has won the sales race for Pangora,” said Robin Schönbeck, general manager of Pangora. “The two companies complement each other ideally. This will not only ensure continued high performance for our portal and online shopping clients, but also increase our innovation and growth capabilities.”

The companies have jointly announced that the Karlsruhe base shall be declared European headquarters. Become.com already maintains a branch in London, and Pangora also operates from Milan. The current Pangora management team will remain, led by Robin Schönbeck as general manager, with Kirsten Drössel heading the Portals & Brands department, Jan Schöttelndreier Shop Business and Andrea Pabst Technology & Innovation.

The transaction will be closed at the end of October 2009.

Links

www.pangora.com

www.become.com

About Become.com

Become.com is a global leader in comparison shopping and lead generation spanning several verticals, including product shopping and education. Become.com delivers qualified leads to businesses and helps consumers find products and services using its world-class search engine. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, CA, with offices in Tokyo, London, Karlsruhe and Milan; Become.com operates numerous sites including www.become.co.jp, www.become.co.uk and www.education.become.com. Become.com was founded in 2004 by Michael Yang, who was also a founder of comparison shopping engine MySimon in 1998. Investors in Become.com include Texas Pacific Group, Transcosmos, and European Founders Fund.

About Pangora

Pangora GmbH, a supplier of online marketplace technologies, offers target group specific solutions for portal operators and online shops with the goal of generating e-commerce sales. Pangora technologies process and combine millions of pieces of product data from over 4000 retailers in Europe. Pangora’s product search and price comparison technologies have already received numerous national and international awards. Among the 70 or more portal clients throughout Europe are household names such as T-Online, Freenet, Payback, PC-Welt.de and Testberichte.de. In addition to this, Pangora operates decido (www.decido.de ), a portal for aiding purchasing decisions. Pangora employs 65 staff members europeanwide.

For further information please contact: For Become.com Europe and Pangora Vera Vaubel Vaubel Medienberatung GmbH Gumppenbergstr. 6 81679 München Tel.: +49-89-9810-3987 Fax: +49-89-9810-3988 E-Mail: medienberatung@vaubel.de For Become.com Corporate Dani Villalobos Tel.: +1-408-215-4700 E-Mail: dani@become.com

Source: PANGORA

For further information please contact: For Become.com Europe and Pangora: Vera Vaubel, Vaubel Medienberatung GmbH, Gumppenbergstr. 6, 81679 München, Tel.: +49-89-9810-3987, Fax: +49-89-9810-3988, E-Mail: medienberatung at vaubel.de; For Become.com Corporate: Dani Villalobos, Tel.: +1-408-215-4700, E-Mail: dani at become.com