April 28, 1999
Web posted at: 6:08 p.m. EDT (2208 GMT)

(CNN) -- Amazon.com says it's buying Exchange.com, a rare book and music retailer; Accept.com, a California e-commerce company working to simplify consumer transactions on the Internet; and Alexa Internet, which has developed a free advertising-supported web navigation service.

Amazon.com -- in a Monday announcement -- says it's paying approximately $645 million for the three companies, mostly in stock.

This amid first-quarter reports from the online retailer of greater losses and revenues.

A statement issued by the company in Seattle, says the acquisition of the three companies will create short- and long-term advantages for Amazon.com, in making Web retail sites easier to use with wider selection and good prices.

The purchase of Exchange.com, which operates the Bibliofind.com and MusicFile.com internet sites, "enriches our offering with rare, out-of-print and antiquarian books, as well as recorded music," according to the company statement. "We just offer CDs, but it offers tapes and vinylvinylP>

The acquisition will give Exchange.com’s thousands of independent dealers and retailers the opportunity to sell and auction their hard-to-find books, recordings, and memorabilia to Amazon.com’s growing base of eight-million registered online customers.

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, was quoted saying, "This is a win for Amazon.com customers because it further increases our selection of rare and obscure items. able to reach our 8 million experienced online shoppers."

Bibliofind.com, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, lets rare-book dealers upload their inventories and manage their businesses online. The site automatically matches want ads with newly available books and notifies potential buyers if wanted books have been found. MusicFile.com similarly is an online marketplace for collectors of hard-to-find music and memorabilia.

Accept.com (www.accept.com) is an e-commerce company based in Redwood City, California. Alexa Internet (www.alexa.com) is based in San Francisco.

The three acquisition deals are expected to be closed before June 30.

Amazon.com says it added 2.2 million customers in the first quarter of the year, bringing the total to 8.4 million. More than 66 percent of orders, Amazon.com says, came from repeat customers.