http://comixology.tumblr.com/post/82316305607/amazon-com-to-acquire-comixologySEATTLE—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.
Comments
I believe (or at least I hope) this is a good sign for the longevity (and diversity of publisher and genre in) the medium of comics.
Amazon is smart money. And this is the smart money saying- in a world where there are all sorts of content to pick from- that comics are worth investing in.
My experience buying trades from Amazon has been not good for me. They don't take up the whole page.
Can't blame Comixolgy for taking the cash. Amazon might just let them stay the course.
I am not sure there was much competition for Comixology before, but any hope of competition probably just died with this deal. The great thing is Amazon believes in putting their applications everywhere so it is not like everyone has to go out and buy a Kindle Fire.
I saw this posted on another site, but this could mean Comixology encourages more self publishing in a similar manner to what Amazon is already doing other places in the company.
I think that Amazon is not going to be so accomodating. They have always try to beat store prices and Kindle books are cheaper than new print books. Will they tell Marvel that digital comics will always be cheaper than print? It will be interesting.
http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/01/amazon-kindle-pricing-markets-equities-publisher.html
I'm curious as to whether or not those two separate collections might now be combined? And even if they aren't, could my Amazon previous purchases get updated with guided view?
Any thoughts?
And/or... 2. Any trades you've already ever purchased at Amazon it will give you the digital version absolutely free (they do this for "books" now).
I'll wait for @brydeemer to chime in with his two cents before I decide if this is good or bad...
I think Diamond will be out of business within the next five to eight years, and we'll be back to one distributor: Amazon. I hope I'm wrong.