Amazon.com Buys Audible

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

On Thursday, Amazon.com announced it has reached an agreement to buy Audible, which if you haven’t already “heard,” is the leading audiobook reseller. The deal is valued at $300 million, which is a 20% premium over Wednesday’s closing price for Audible (ADBL).

In a press release, Steve Kessel, Amazon.com’s senior vice president for worldwide digital media said:

“Audible.com offers the best customer experience, the widest content selection and the broadest device compatibility in the industry. Working together, we can introduce more innovations and bring this format to an even wider audience.”

We Say: This is a natural extension of Amazon’s earlier release of the still-in-short-supply Kindle, as it gives Amazon.com still another entry into the digital media market. And of course, let’s not forget Amazon MP3.