Comparison-shopping site Shopzilla is being acquired by E. W. Scripps, which says it is "moving to capitalize on the rapid growth and rising profitability of specialized internet search businesses," reports Internet Retailer. Scripps will pay $525 million in cash for all of Shopzilla, which will become a standalone operating unit. The transaction is expected to be completed in the third quarter. Shopzilla, formerly BizRate, derives revenue from fees paid by participating online retailers, which pay the fee when a consumer is directed to their online store. Shopzilla also powers shopping search at AOL, Lycos, Time Warner's RoadRunner, among others.

According to Scripps, Shopzilla attracted 14 million unique visitors in April and will be an expansion of Scripps' internet business, which includes United Media's Comics.com and websites operated by the company's newspapers and broadcast TV stations. Scripps president and CEO Kenneth W. Lowe said, "In many ways, like our other media businesses, Shopzilla is a content company. By organizing shopping information so that consumers can buy almost any product from a wide variety of merchants, the Shopzilla team has taken commerce and content and melded the two together."

"Shopzilla sits at the intersection of two of the fastest-growing sectors online, paid search and e-commerce," said Chuck Davis, president and CEO of Shopzilla. Shopzilla's senior management team, including Davis and cofounders Farhad Mohit (chief product officer) and CTO Henri Asseily will continue to run the company after the acquisition. John Phelps, COO, and Brad Kates, CFO, will also stay on.