Amazon.com, the place where most folks shop online, announced that they will be acquiring Comixology in an agreement between the two companies. Full press release below from Comixology's tumblr page.
SEATTLE—April 10, 2014—(NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon.com today announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire comiXology, the company that revolutionized the digital comics reading experience with their immersive Guided View technology and makes discovering, buying, and reading comic books and graphic novels easier and more fun than ever before.
“ComiXology’s mission is to spread the love of comics and graphic novels in all forms,” said David Steinberger, co-founder and CEO of comiXology. “There is no better home for comiXology than Amazon to see this vision through. Working together, we look to accelerate a new age for comic books and graphic novels.”
“Amazon and comiXology share a passion for reinventing reading in a digital world,” said David Naggar, Amazon Vice President, Content Acquisition and Independent Publishing. “We’ve long admired the passion comiXology brings to changing the way we buy and read comics and graphic novels. We look forward to investing in the business, growing the team, and together, bringing comics and graphic novels to even more readers.”
Founded in 2007, comiXology offers a broad library of digital comic book content from over 75 of the top publishers as well as top independent creators. Following the acquisition, comiXology’s headquarters will remain in New York.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Subject to various closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2014.
There's lots of pros and cons to look at when it comes to news like this. It's easy to say that with Amazon's help, Comixology's reach and readership could skyrocket, seeing as Amazon.com has become the end-all, be-all of online shopping. What does that mean for folks who are already Comixology users though? Will prices change? Will the way the company works change? There's no way to know yet, so we'll keep an eye out for further information regarding this huge deal.
What do you think about this news? How will this change how we read digital comics?