Amazon snaps up digital comics retailer Comixology
Amazon.com is getting into comics in a big way as the mega-retailer announced plans to buy the digital comics reader and storefront Comixology on Thursday.
Amazon did not disclose what it paid for the company, although Comixology's fortunes attracted many customers and publishers who treated the app and Web site as the de facto online storefront for comic books.
The company, co-founded in 2007 in New York City by David Steinberger, publishes most American comic books digitally, as well as many books from international publishers, in a one-stop shopping marketplace. He said in a statement that this is what made it a good match for Amazon.
'Comixology's mission is to spread the love of comics and graphic novels in all forms,' Steinberger said. 'There is no better home for Comixology than Amazon to see this vision through.'
Comixology currently works with 75 publishers worldwide, as well as independent creators. It also offers a publishing program for new comic book talent.
The company's headquarters will remain in New York, for now, with the deal expected to close by the end of June 2014.
David Naggar, Amazon's vice president of content acquisition and independent publishing, said in a statement that both companies are invested in 'reinventing reading in a digital world.'
Comixology's fortunes rose quickly thanks to a dearth of digital marketplaces for comics, a big launch on the first iPad, and its patented technology for Guided View, a tap-to-read method for advancing from panel to panel in digital comics. Comixology's iPad app's gross sales placed it in the top ten in 2010 and 2011, and made it the number one grossing, non-gaming app in 2012 and 2013.
However, Comixology has a reputation for aggressively self-censoring comics, even those that have been labeled as not suitable for children. The company has found itself in hot water in other ways, too. A deal to offer up 700 Marvel Comics for free crashed their servers, while a recent data breach forced its customers to change their passwords.
Chip Mosher, Comixology's vice president of communications and marketing, said that he did not expect Amazon to change the prices of digital comics, nor did he expect much conflict between Comixology and comic books available on Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet.
'Nothing to announce today, but we expect we'll find ways to make both comiXology and Kindle work better together,' he told CNET.
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.
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