Web homepage community operator FortuneCity.com Inc has agreed to buy French competitor Citeweb for an undisclosed sum, a move that will see it become one of FranceÆs 25 most visited web sites. The firmÆs .fr site is only a few months old, with a couple of thousand registered users, but the Citeweb acquisition will see it second in the community market behind local player Multimania.fr.
Four year-old Citeweb operates a similar service to its new owner – offering free homepages to consumers, financed largely through banner advertising. The site has 30,000 members and records around 12 million pages impressions per month, making it top 25 according to research firm Media Metrix Inc. FortuneCity will be careful with the Citeweb brand, co-founder Dan Metcalfe told ComputerWire, and will integrate its two French sites over many months to avoid losing customers.
