Thursday, January 10, 2013

Goodbye Buy.com, Hello Rakuten.com Shopping

It looks like it's goodbye to Aliso Viejo-based Buy.com, and hello to Rakuten.com Shopping. The Buy.com brand name, which had helped to define Southern California's place in the e-commerce world, is officially gone, as Japanese shopping firm Rakuten said that it will be renaming the site to Rakuten.com Shopping. Buy.com was acquired in May of 2010 by Rakuten. According to Rakuten, the new brand and site will launch on January 31st, and comes after a "gradual, successful transition" to becoming part of Rakuten. Buy.com was one of Orange County's emblematic ecommerce brands, having been started in 1997 by Scott Blum; Buy.com went public during the Internet years, in 1999, but then was re-purchased by Blum in 2001 after plunging during the Dot Com crash.

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