UPS acquires IShip.com
May 22, 2001
UPS acquires IShip.com
United Parcel Service Inc. has acquired the Bellevue-based IShip.com unit of Stamps.com Inc. for an undisclosed amount. IShip is a service that allowing shippers to compare carrier costs, including those of UPS and its competitors. Stamps.com, which is based in Santa Monica, Calif., said in a press release Tuesday that shedding the IShip unit allows it to focus on its online postal services business.
When Stamps.com agreed to acquire IShip.com in October 1999, the purchase price was 8 million Stamps.com shares, at the time worth $300 million. Tuesday, with Stamps shares opening at $3.04, the entire company had a market capitalization of about $153 million.
Stamps has cut staff at both of its operations. In early February the company said it cut 150 employees at its Santa Monica and Bellevue offices. Last October the company cut 240 workers, including about 70 of the 180 it employed in Bellevue at the time.
