Everybody loves Woot. Everyone I know and everyone you know has bought something from Woot (hmmm, I don't really need that fifth-gen 8G iPod Nano, but, still ...). Not for nothing did it top Inc.'s list of the Top 100 Retail Companies a couple of years ago. Or, if nothing else, maybe you just dig on that wondrous Woot prose -- art and commerce all based out of Carrollton, at the corner of International Parkway and Midway Road. Except today, moments ago, lil' ol' Woot ain't indie no more. Let's go to the breaking announcement:
Holy crap! Woot has signed an agreement with Amazon -- yes, the Amazon -- to become an independent subsidiary of the ecommerce colossus. Woot HQ will remain in Carrollton, Texas, and will operate as autonomously as other Amazon companies like Zappos and Audible. More details forthcoming after we pick our eyeballs up off of the floor. Anybody see where Lefty rolled off to?Update at 3:50 p.m.: Woot just posted an update to its acquisition announcement, and, as expected, it's the best press release-slash-internal memo-slash-Q&A in the history of business deals. Writes CEO Matt Rutledge, why, of course Amazon won't tinker with Woot: "Our business model is so vague that there's no way Amazon can possibly change what it is we're truly doing: preparing the way for the rise of the Lava Men in 2012." And: There's video.
