Yahoo!7 buys a deal-a-day site

Online media company Yahoo!7 has bought Australian online group buying site Spreets, including its New Zealand operations, for approximately $40 million. 

The deal brings Yahoo!7 in line with competitor Channel Nine - whose parent company PBL launched a similar deal-a-day site Cudo in conjunction with Microsoft last September.

Launched in February last year, Spreets has 500,000 members and more than 274,000 vouchers were purchased since inception, Yahoo!7 claimed. 

The purchase will help Yahoo!7's diversification of revenue streams outside of display advertising and bring a new audience to Spreets, the company said. 

Yahoo!7 chief executive Rohan Lund said Spreets is a "market leader in what is becoming a highly competitive and fast growing market".

"The Spreets management team in Dean McEvoy and Justus Hammer come with strong expertise and experience in the Australian group buying market,” he said. 

Dean McEvoy, Spreets chief executive, said: "We’re proud to be an Australian born company leading the market in this rapidly evolving space,” he said.