Amazon and Zappos Join Forces

Like the forested land it's named for, Amazon.com is big. Really big. Even bigger now that it has acquired Zappos, the internet's biggest online shoe retailer. News of the partnership was announced yesterday by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh via an all-employee e-mail, and it's a bit of a shocker for all.

The deal, which means that all of the existing shareholders and investors of Zappos will be exchanging their stock for Amazon stock, will make Amazon the only shareholder of Zappos. One might wonder how the already-hot competition between the Amazon-owned online shoe retailer Endless and Zappos will now pan out, but Hsieh assures us that Zappos will still remain an independent entitity.

"We plan to continue to run Zappos the way we have always run Zappos -- continuing to do what we believe is best for our brand, our culture, and our business," he wrote in the e-mail.

Related links:
Zappos.com
Amazon.com
Endless.com