Amazon.com will acquire Goodreads, a website that recommends books.
The deal, financial terms of which were not disclosed, is expected to close before the end of June, Amazon said in a statement on Thursday.
Launched in January 2007, Goodreads provides reading recommendations, has a social aspect and will provide reading lists based on what your friends like. The site claims 16 million users and carries 23 million reviews.
Amazon also provides recommendations on its website and it's initially unknown if the two sites will be merged, if Goodreads data will be used on the Amazon site, or if Goodreads customers will be pushed to buy books from Amazon.
"We're now going to be able to move faster in bringing the Goodreads experience to millions of readers around the world," said Otis Chandler, Goodreads CEO and co-founder, in a statement. "We're looking forward to inspiring greater literary discussion and helping more readers find great books, whether they read in print or digitally."
Following the acquisition, the company will remain based in San Francisco.
Martyn Williams covers mobile telecoms, Silicon Valley and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Martyn on Twitter at @martyn_williams. Martyn's e-mail address is martyn_williams@idg.com
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