Starbase Plans Acquisition to Improve E-Commerce Line

Starbase Corp., a Santa Ana developer of Internet software, said Friday that it will acquire closely held Technology Builders Inc. for about $41 million in stock to boost its line of software products used for electronic commerce.

Starbase will pay 10.2 million shares for Atlanta-based Technology Builders. Starbase said the purchase is expected to close within a week.

Shares of Starbase, which have climbed 73% this year, closed Friday at $4.06, up 44 cents on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

The acquisition is the second announced by Starbase this week. The company said Monday it would buy closely held Worldweb.net Inc. for $26 million in stock and cash.

Starbase is trying to boost its software product offerings for customers such as Dell Computer Corp., Lucent Technologies Inc. and PepsiCo Inc.