Please Spell 'Shopzilla'

As blogged by Greg Sterling earlier today, E.W. Scripps, the Cincinnati based media company known by some for its sponsorship of the National Spelling Bee, announced plans to buy online shopping site €" Shopzilla for an estimated $525 million. Scripps is making a bet on the future growth of online shopping €" today estimated at $100 billion.

E.W. Scripps, a traditional media company, paid almost 3 times more for Shopzilla€™s 14 million unique visitors than what eBay paid for Shopping.com€™s nearly 50 million unique visitors. What becomes of these two shopping sites over time now that they are part of larger companies is anyone€™s guess. Will eBay€™s online orientation propel Shopping.com forward? Will Scripps' traditional media culture cut against the grain of Shopzilla€™s management team in Santa Monica, California? Time will tell. The only safe bet is that no one at next year€™s National Spelling Bee will be asked to spell the name of Scripps€™ latest and perhaps boldest acquisition.