Stamps.com to Purchase IShip.com

Stamps.com Inc. of Santa Monica agreed to buy closely held IShip.com of Bellevue, Wash., for about $305 million in stock to create a one-stop Internet mailing and shipping company. Stamps.com is one of two companies with a U.S. Postal Service license that allows customers to buy and print postage on the Internet. The deal will in effect double Stamps.com’s market potential. IShip.com allows customers to compare the prices of various shipping services, including that of the U.S. Postal Service. Stamps.com will pay 8 million shares for IShip.com shares, warrants and options outstanding. The transaction value is based on Stamps.com’s Friday closing price of $38.13. In a separate agreement, Mail Boxes Etc., a subsidiary of U.S. Office Products Co., is developing plans for its 3,300 retail franchises to use IShip.com technology to process shipments electronically. In Nasdaq trading on Monday, Stamps.com stock closed at $39.50, up $1.38.