Amazon Set to Acquire ComiXology - Analyst Blog

Amazon.com Inc. AMZN recently acquired a cloud-based digital comic bookstore, comiXology. However, the financial details were not made public. The acquisition is likely to close in the second quarter of 2014. comiXology will preserve its brand and continue to operate as an Amazon subsidiary after the closure.

comiXology, founded in 2007, modernized the comic book and graphic novel business by offering a cloud-based digital comics platform. The service has made the comics experience easier and even more enjoyable. It allows users to read comics on the web, Apple's AAPL iOS, Android, Kindle Fire and Microsoft's MSFT Windows 8 and already has a huge customer base. comiXology provides vast digital comic book content of almost every genre, from action to horror to comedy, from over 75 publishers, including Marvel and DC. It has been declared as one of the best apps for iPad.

With this acquisition, Amazon's broad library, consisting of both physical as well as e-books of different genres, will now feature comic books. This will help the online retailer to establish traction in the comic books market by offering improved digital comic books and graphic novels and attract more consumers. Moreover, Amazon will gain comiXology's Guided View technology, which offers customers a panel view. The comics appear frame-by-frame just as they would in print and offer a real-life-like experience on mobile devices.

Amazon has been venturing into different devices in order to boost its digital media sales. The online retailer plans to launch an Android-powered game console later this year. Furthermore, it recently released an Android-based Internet video-streaming set-top box named Fire TV powered by Google's (GOOGL) Android software.

Fire TV will help to grow Amazon's video sales and attract new users. Also, the breadth of content and sensible pricing strategy will immediately place the online retailer in the same league as Apple TV and Roku.

Currently Amazon carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).