As announced by Amazon.com, the Federal Trade Commission has closed its antitrust investigation of Amazon’s proposed acquisition of Quidsi, Inc. The transaction is expected to close April 1, 2011. Simpson Thacher helped Quidsi obtain clearance for the transaction after the FTC had issued a Second Request in late December 2010. Quidsi is the fastest growing e-commerce company in the country and the parent and operator of Diapers.com, Soap.com and BeautyBar.com. Amazon will acquire Quidsi for approximately $500 million in cash and the assumption of $45 million in debt and other obligations.
The Simpson Thacher team in Washington DC and New York included: Peter Thomas, Arman Oruc, Kathryn McCarthy, Abram Ellis, David Shogren, Diana Wielocha, and Ketan Jhaveri, along with the valuable assistance of paralegal Meghan Grissler. Additionally, the following attorneys made exceptional contributions: Rawia Ashraf, Ken Ehrhard, Bill Kearney, Jane Lee, Mickey Tarpinian, Tina Geraghty, Kristen Grauer, Brandon Halter, Stephanie Inks, Jonathan Porter, Dan Shin, and Amanda Wetzel.