Compaq Completes Shopping.com Purchase

Compaq Computer Corp., the world’s No. 3 computer maker, said Wednesday that it has completed its $220-million acquisition of Shopping.com, which sells goods on the Internet.

Compaq paid $18.25 a share for all the outstanding shares of the money-losing, Corona del Mar-based online merchant. Houston-based Compaq bought Shopping.com, which sells brand-name consumer products online, to complement the AltaVista Internet search site it acquired with Digital Equipment Corp. last year.

Compaq has been looking to expand AltaVista from simply a search engine to a destination site like Yahoo! Inc. or Excite Inc. with a full range of online features.

Compaq, which also plans to spin off a portion of AltaVista to the public, has made other acquisitions to bolster the site’s offerings. Last month, Compaq agreed to buy Zip2 Corp. for more than $220 million. Zip2 helps set up city-oriented Web pages to become a home base for communities.

Compaq in January disclosed its plan to buy Shopping.com for $19 a share. The price was later reduced because the online retailer had more convertible securities outstanding than previously thought. The lower per-share price didn’t change the overall purchase price.