Compaq amends offer for Shopping.com

Compaq Computer yesterday announced that it has reduced the price per share it is offering as part of its pending acquisition of Internet retail site Shopping.com, though the total value of the deal remains the same at about $US220 million.

Compaq is now offering $18.25 per share of common stock, rather than the $19 per share it offered in its announcement last week. Compaq reduced the per-share price after it received additional information from Shopping.com that included details on the number of common shares and convertible securities that the Web retailer has outstanding, Compaq officials said.

Shopping.com has more outstanding shares than Compaq originally realised, so to maintain the value of the deal at $220 million, Compaq is reducing the per-share price it will pay, said Alan Hodel, a Compaq spokesman.

"Shopping.com supplied some additional information on outstanding shares that hadn't been taken into account at first. This whole deal came together very quickly," Hodel said, adding that such revisions are not uncommon for corporate acquisitions.

According to Compaq, the new per-share price is a result of negotiations between the two companies and Shopping.com continues to recommend that its shareholders accept the offer.

Compaq intends to combine the resources it obtained by acquiring Digital Equipment with Shopping.com, company officials said. The AltaVista Web search technology, originally from Digital, will be combined with the Shopping.com e-commerce capabilities to create a more complete Internet presence, officials said.