Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch Inc has signed on to acquire CityAuction Inc, a person- to-person online auction community for 800,000 shares and other unspecified consideration. The deal values CityAuction at no less than $45.5m, based on last Friday’s CitySearch closing price of $56.875. City Search says the acquisition to allow its users to participate in auctions both regionally and locally. The deal was welcomed by Wall Street, where online auctions are seen as a hot market, as CitySearch shares surged $10.625, or nearly 19%, to close at $67.50. CityAuction was founded in 1997 and funded by Palo Alto, California-based VC outfit Charter Ventures. As of December 31, the company estimated that it had roughly 47,000 registered users and received 100,000 page views per day, with approximately 115,000 auctions listed since inception.
