Intuit Acquires StepUp Commerce

Furniture World News

Intuit Inc. announced the acquisition of StepUp Commerce, Inc., a leading provider of services that enable local businesses to convert online shoppers into in-store customers. StepUp’s technology platform will power the new QuickBooks Product Listing Service, which is designed to help local businesses such as home furnishings retailers attract buyers to their shops by making their product information and images available online through established entities such as Google. Additional information about StepUp is available online at www.StepUp.com. “The purchase of StepUp helps QuickBooks solve one of the biggest challenges for product-based businesses – customer acquisition,” said Brad Smith, senior vice president of Intuit’s Small Business Division. “With StepUp’s services QuickBooks users will be able to significantly expand their reach by quickly and easily making their products searchable on the Web.” StepUp will deliver their services under the QuickBooks brand and continue to be based in San Francisco, Calif. The team is led by Kendall Fargo, who founded StepUp in February 2004 and is now a general manager at Intuit, reporting to Brad Smith. “This acquisition allows StepUp to leverage Intuit’s unmatched knowledge and experience with small businesses,” said Fargo. “By joining forces, we can greatly enhance our local product marketing services for our customers and partners.” Intuit acquired StepUp and the company’s subsidiary, JGSI Corporation for approximately $60 million in cash. Intuit does not expect the acquisition to have a material effect on financial results in fiscal 2007. About StepUp Headquartered in San Francisco, StepUp is a leading local shopping services company that helps retailers use the Internet to display their in-store products. StepUp’s mission is to expose local inventory information from retailers of all sizes to consumers wherever they are browsing products online. Its patent-pending inventory extraction tools make it easy for any store to capitalize on online consumers’ growing reliance on the web for locating products to buy locally. About Intuit Inc. Intuit Inc. is a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses, consumers and accounting professionals. Its flagship products and services, including QuickBooks®, Quicken® and TurboTax® software, simplify small business management and payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and filing. ProSeries® and Lacerte® are Intuit’s leading tax preparation software suites for professional accountants. Founded in 1983, Intuit had annual revenue of $2.3 billion in its fiscal year 2006. The company has nearly 7,500 employees with major offices in 13 states across the United States, and offices in Canada and several other foreign countries. More information can be found at www.intuit.com.