Amazon.com buys Shelfari, a startup for book lovers

By John Cook,P-I REPORTER

Amazon.com is buying Shelfari, the Seattle social networking startup for book lovers, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
The deal comes about three weeks after Amazon.com acquired Victoria, B.C.-basedAbeBooks, which holds an equity stake in Shelfari's main rival, LibraryThing.

Amazon.com already owned a portion of Shelfari, which received funding from the Seattle-based online retailer and angel investors in February 2007.

Shelfari is a social network that allows groups of people to create virtual bookshelves and share titles with friends. It was co-founded by Josh Hug, the former director of device engineering at Seattle's RealNetworks.
Hug and Amazon.com could not be reached for comment Monday, but an announcement was expected soon. Dave Hanley, vice president of marketing at Shelfari, declined to comment and referred questions to Hug.

Sources told the Seattle P-I the financial outcome was positive for investors in Shelfari. The company raised about $1 million in February 2007 and had been considering another round of funding.
There's no love lost between Shelfari and LibraryThing.

Read the full Seattle Post-Intelligencer story online.

And here is the Shelfari press release on the subject.