Microsoft buys price comparison, research company for $486 million

Microsoft is apparently throwing around some of the money it didn't spend on buying Yahoo! or Facebook this year. Steve Ballmer recently pulled $486 million out of his wallet to acquire Greenfield Online, the German company that runs price comparison and shopping portal Ciao.

The move could help Microsoft make inroads with European internet users. Ciao receives over 26 million unique visitors each month. Greenfield also operates an online sales and market research division, but apparently Microsoft isn't as interested in that business. PaidContent reports that the company plans to sell off the research arm and just hang onto Ciao.

Sure, Microsoft could have just pumped a few million dollars into making its own shopping site more useable, but when you've got mountains of cash lying around, sometimes it's easier to just buy an already popular service.

Tags: ciao, europe, greenfield-online, microsoft, price-comparison, product-comparison, shopping