San Francisco - Online retail giant Amazon is to buy the web's leading shoe retailer Zappos, for 928 million dollars, the companies said Wednesday. "This morning, our board approved and we signed what's known as a 'definitive agreement,' in which all of the existing shareholders and investors of Zappos (there are over 100) will be exchanging their Zappos stock for Amazon stock," said Zappos chief executive Tony Hsieh in a memo. "Once the exchange is done, Amazon will become the only shareholder of Zappos stock."
Amazon said that it will acquire all outstanding Zappos shares in exchange for roughly 10 million shares of Amazon common stock, plus 40 million dollars in cash and restricted stock units to Zappos employees.
