Half.com To Close by 2005 & Merge with eBay

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Online auctioneer eBay Inc. plans to close its Half.com Web site at the end of 2004, by which time it will have merged all the items for sale on that site into the appropriate categories on the eBay site, a spokesman said on Thursday.

Half.com, which eBay bought in the summer of 2000 for $241 million in stock, features books, music and videos for sale. Some eBay executives and analysts had expected the eBay and Half.com combination to compete with online retailer Amazon.com Inc.

Josh Kopelman, 32, the head of Half.com, will leave the company April 15, after heading the company since it was acquired, said eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove.

Reuters has the story.